Several apartments were destroyed and nearly 40 people displaced Friday night after a fire broke out in a large housing complex on Lovers Lane, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority reported.
UVFA Battalion Chief Eric Singleton said that crews were dispatched around 8:30 p.m. Feb. 28 to a report of “multi-family” structure on fire, and that the first firefighters on-scene found two of the three apartment buildings there “heavily involved in flames,” which he described as reaching “20 to 30 feet in the air.”
To knock down those flames as quickly as possible to hopefully keep them from spreading to more residences, Singleton said crews “used our deck gun — the large nozzle on top of the engine” to douse the fire, which was kept from spreading to the third building.
“It was a good stop, crews did an outstanding job keeping the fire from spreading to the third building,” said Singleton, noting that there were at least eight apartments which were either destroyed or heavily damaged.
“We had 37 people displaced that night,” he continued, explaining that the gas main, water main and electricity to the building had to be shut off, as some of the mains were damaged.
“I contacted the Red Cross that night, and it was a big ask, given the amount of people affected, but they had people responding very quickly, and did an outstanding job helping them,” said Singleton.
Another aspect of the fire that was nearly miraculous, Singleton said, was that “we had no fatalities or even injuries (to either people or pets). People lost a lot of stuff, of course, which is heartbreaking, but stuff can be replaced, lives cannot.”
To help make sure the displaced residents had their most important items, particularly medications, Singleton said crews “worked about two hours” after the flames were extinguished to help retrieve necessities.
Singleton credited law enforcement personnel from the Ukiah Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol as all quickly responding to the blaze and “going door-to-door” to not only evacuate the buildings with fire, but the surrounding buildings, as well.
Also responding to the incident were crews from Cal Fire, Hopland Fire, Redwood Valley Fire and Potter Valley fire, and crews from the Willits Fire Department responded to help cover the valley while UVFA crews were busy on the large incident, including off-duty Battalion Chiefs Ryan Nelson and Justin Buckingham.
As to the cause of the fire, Singleton said “it appears to have started on a back patio and crawled up the wall, then into the shared attic space, which is why it was able to spread.” He noted that while the exact cause is still being determined, “it appears accidental, meaning we do not believe there was malicious intent.”
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