The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District is not ruling out fireworks as the cause of a two-alarm residential fire Friday night on Sycamore Avenue in Brentwood.
The fire broke out about 11:39 pm Friday at a Senior Living Community and displaced 7-seniors. Firefighters arrived on scene to find heavy fire near the rear of a building with an exterior fire that had extended into the attic.
According to Chief Hugh Henderson, a second-alarm was called quickly by the Captain of Engine 54 due to this being a senior living community and potential mobility issues.
“One reason why a second alarm was issued so quickly was because we did not know how much evacuation was needed or how much it would take to get the seniors out,” said Henderson. “Luckily, it was not a multi-story building.”
The fire was ultimately brought under control after an offensive attack with heavy fire damage to one apartment unit and moderate to heavy water damage in three additional units.
The sprinklers were activated during this incident; however, since it was an exterior fire it had spread from the outside in and did not prevent the fire from spreading upon activation and created water damage.
Henderson noted that the cause is listed as “unknown” at this time, however, fireworks are suspected because people at observed fireworks shortly before the fire began.
“The fire started on the exterior of the building but the exact cause is not known,” explained Henderson. “There were numerous fireworks going off prior to the fire starting according to residents but nobody saw the fireworks land or seen the actual fire start.”
Henderson also credited the assistance of Contra Costa County Fire Protection District resources in assisting the fire while highlighting they were lucky no other incidents were ongoing at the time of the fire to allow all resources to respond.
“That fire easily could have been more disastrous than it was,” said Henderson. “Upon arrival of CONFIRE, we had 1 engine performing a primary search, 2 engines performing a fire attack, 1 engine 2-in-2-out, and 1-engine on the roof. Upon arrival, Engine 81 went to the roof.”
In total, fire required 17 East Contra Costa Fire Protection District firefighters and 10 Contra Costa County Fire Protection District firefighters.
1 comment
Kind of funny how it started at a unit where the tenants smoke and have had 2 other previous fires!
Comments are closed.