Oceanside CA— Oceanside Firefighters were busy Wednesday with two structure fires reported 61 minutes apart in the northeast section of town.
Four people were displaced and two dogs rescued in the first incident, located in the Mission Gate Apartments, 4401 Mission Avenue.
When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke coming from a first floor unit. “The fire started in a closet in one of the bedrooms. The fire spread from that bedroom to a little bit of the house.” said Oceanside Battalion Chief, Terry Collis.
Employees of the complex and several neighbors entered the unit prior to the arrival of the fire department. “They hit the fire with extinguishers and slowed it down so when we got here, it was confined to the single apartment unit.” said the Chief.
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Captain Tim Scott with one of the rescued dogs
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Damage to the bedroom
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Mission Gate employees gather fire extinguishers they used prior the fire department arrival.
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Oceanside firefighter, Chad Cox
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The two dogs were rescued from the bedroom that was burning and were dirty and shaken but unharmed. The Red Cross was called to take care of the displaced residents.
It’s unknown how many people, if any, in neighboring units will be displaced pending an inspection of the damage. There is no cause for the fire at this time and no damage estimate. The Mission Gate employees declined to comment.
As firefighters were getting ready to clear the first incident, they received a call for a structure fire at 349 W. Redondo Drive, 4 miles away. When firefighters arrived at the scene, smoke was coming from under the eaves of the single family residence.
“The fire started in some stereo or DJ equipment in a back bedroom of the home.” explained Chief Collis, “The fire started in the equipment. The bedroom door was shut, the fire ran out of oxygen and put itself out.”
With the smoke coming from the eaves, firefighters thought they may have had an attic fire burning in the home. “It was still smoldering and with the door closed, all the smoke pushed through the vents in the room and started coming out the attic.”
There is no estimate on the cost of the damage which was confined to the contents in the bedroom. There were no injuries in either incident.