By Khalida Sarwari
The Santa Cruz Fire Department is reminding residents to call 911 during fires after a cooking fire at an apartment complex that was not successfully extinguished spread to the attic of the building and caused thousands of dollars in damage Monday night, a division Chief said.
Firefighters responded to a report of a single-alarm fire about 11:05 p.m. at a two-story, eight-unit apartment complex at 129 Felix St., division Chief Mark Ramos said.
An hour prior to the fire, two college-aged occupants in a unit were cooking in the kitchen when their pan caught on fire, Ramos said. They tried to extinguish the fire, and thought they had extinguished it, but did not notice that the heat from the fire had created another fire in the shared attic area, Ramos said.
The fire in the attic affected all four units on the second floor of the building, Ramos said.
About 12-15 occupants were evacuated from the second floor until the fire was controlled early Tuesday.
No one was injured, but the occupants of the unit where the fire began were displaced because their unit sustained extensive damage, Ramos said.
The fire caused an estimated $50,000 to the structure of the building and about $5,000 to the contents of the unit.
He said during fires, residents should always call the fire department for assistance.
“Call 911 if you have a fire so that we can make sure that the fire isn’t burning in the walls, or in the ceiling in this case,” Ramos said.