{"id":244420,"date":"2011-07-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/roofers-ignite-apartment-fire-in-hillcrest\/"},"modified":"2011-07-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-11T07:00:00","slug":"roofers-ignite-apartment-fire-in-hillcrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/roofers-ignite-apartment-fire-in-hillcrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Roofers ignite apartment fire in Hillcrest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Roofers<\/a>
Three-alarm fire in Hillcrest, Wed., July 6, displaces 12 apartment residents. (Courtesy Jim Winsor\/SDPIX) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No alarms sound, 12 residents displaced<\/p>\n

By Rick Braatz |<\/strong> Asistente de edici\u00f3n SDUN<\/p>\n

Roofers working on Hillcrest Italian eatery Buonissimo 2 ignited a three-alarm fire (requiring extensive resources) next door to an apartment complex above Obelisk gift shop on Wed., July 6, at approximately 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were doing roofing work for the last couple of days, and \u2026 they were using a torch to lay down the new roofing material, and that open flame ignited the side of the apartment building, and it ran into the floor and into the walls,\u201d said Maurice Luque, spokesperson for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, who was at the scene.<\/p>\n

Four fire engines rushed to 1033 University Ave. after the department received a call about an apartment fire on the second floor of a 15-unit apartment complex above Obelisk and Torreon occupied by 12 residents, two of whom said no alarm sounded in the building.<\/p>\n

Police blocked off University Avenue between 10th Avenue and Vermont Street so firefighters could enter unobstructed, but Luque said they couldn\u2019t get to the seat [main body] of the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe visibility was very limited. A lot of smoke and \u2026 heat, and they kept trying to attack the fire. They did have hose lines and they were getting some water on the fire. But it was just too intense and it was too involved,\u201d Luque said.<\/p>\n

About 20 minutes later, the crew had to exit the building and tackle the flames from outside. Personnel deployed 900 gallons of water from three fire engines\u2019 hydraulic ladders (two in front and one in back) for an hour to assist them.<\/p>\n

Still concerned, however, that the fire would soon spread to neighboring buildings, the crew called for back up. A total of 14 fire engines, six trucks and 113 fire personnel were deployed to the scene before, at 6:30 p.m., crews succeeded in extinguishing the blaze.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Roofers<\/a><\/dt>\n
Fourteen fire engines deploy to a Hillcrest apartment fire. Wed., July 6.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Obelisk and another business below the apartment complex, Torreon Importers, suffered extensive water damage, in addition to some structural damage, said Luque, adding that total loss to the building and its contents is estimated at $1 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe information we\u2019re getting is that most of the building is gutted,\u201d said Jessica Dietrich, a lead case worker for the Red Cross. Dietrich and staff set up operations outside the Hillcrest Pick Up Stix to help residents, all 12 of whom were displaced by the fire, deal with their loss and find shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main goal is making sure they have food, water, a place to stay, and helping them onto that long-term recovery,\u201d Dietrich said. Evan Knopf, 22, lived in one of the apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the building when it happened. I was working on job applications, and I started to smell smoke, but I thought maybe it was incense or something from one of the neighbors. But then all the electricity in the building went out, like my fan stopped, so I was kind of like, \u2018what is going on?\u2019 and I actually heard people\u2014because I lived in the front\u2014screaming on University Avenue \u2018Someone should tell the people in the building that its on fire.\u2019 And I didn\u2019t realize it was our building at first because none of the alarms were going off and actually went to the hallway and it was already filled with smoke,\u201d said Knopf, adding that he then ran outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an apartment building full of working class people and students, like I don\u2019t think any of us, except like one resident, had renters insurance. So I mean,s for most of us I think it\u2019s a total loss,\u201d Knopf said.<\/p>\n

Francisco Huicochea, 51, also lived in the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taking a shower, getting ready to go to work, and I smelled smoke. But then I thought it was outside, or you know they have construction. I\u2019m like, \u2018Maybe something\u2019s going on?\u2019 And then somebody was yelling in the hall,\u201d said Huicochea, who then also ran outside to safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo alarms, nothing went on. I just wonder what would have happened if I had been asleep. I take medications that make me sleepy, and if I been there, I would have never heard anything. It\u2019s really scary when I think about it. I\u2019m glad that it at least happened in the day,\u201d Huicochea said.<\/p>\n

The fire required such extensive resources because the building, constructed in the early 1900s, wasn\u2019t built with fire-resistant materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey built them very strong in those days but at the same time they didn\u2019t have a lot of the fire safety features that modern construction has, meaning there are no fire blocks in the walls. The floors aren\u2019t sealed off, so fire gets in those hollow walls and it just travels up and \u2026 horizontally very, very quickly,\u201d said Luque. \u201cAnd of course, it\u2019s a wood structure; it burns quickly. Its lath [wood] and plaster inside, which is the very old style. It\u2019s not fire-resistant dry wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following morning, Thurs., July 7, Luque said the city\u2019s building inspector had red-tagged the building, meaning no one is allowed to enter it due to the severity of the damage.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No alarms sound, 12 residents displaced By Rick Braatz | SDUN Assistant Editor Roofers working on Hillcrest Italian eatery Buonissimo 2 ignited a three-alarm fire (requiring extensive resources) next door to an apartment complex above Obelisk gift shop on Wed., July 6, at approximately 3 p.m. \u201cThey were doing roofing work for the last couple […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Roofers ignite apartment fire in Hillcrest","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}