WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- Seventeen people were injured, five critically, in a two-alarm blaze Monday at the Stag Hotel downtown.
At least one man jumped from a second-floor window as flames tore through the 85-year-old two-story residential hotel at 117 W. Beach St. about 5:45p.m. Thick smoke filled the street as dozens of onlookers watched firefighters from several agencies tackle the fire.
Ambulances and helicopters were called out for multiple casualties. Four of the injured were taken to Watsonville Community Hospital, four to Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz and three others were airlifted to out-of-county trauma centers, Watsonville Fire spokeswoman Rosa Meyer said.
Several other residents were being treated in the parking lot behind the hotel for what appeared to be smoke inhalation, though paramedics also were putting a splint on the leg of man laying on the ground.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The extent of the damage is still to be determined.
"My initial thought was hopefully everybody got out safely," said Ernest Araiza, who has owned the hotel for about nine years. "Buildings can be fixed or repaired. Lives are precious."
A shoeless resident who gave his name as Barefoot Timmy said he heard the fire alarm go off and opened the door to a hallway filled with smoke. He retreated and climbed out his first-floor window.
Next door, at the Discount Mall, store owners worried the blaze might spread, so they closed up shop and evacuated along with their customers. The mall's janitor, Victor Mendoza, rushed over with two ladders to help second-story residents get out.
"I was walking down the hall and suddenly I heard, 'Fire, fire, bring ladders,'" Mendoza said. "There were big flames coming out the front window. I just did what I could."
Ben Puente was driving by, saw the fire and pulled over. He said he ran along the building yelling for people to get out, and saw one man jump from a second-story window and land on the ground. He helped others down the ladders.
Manager Russ Rickman said he had walked to the Subway shop two blocks away to pick up dinner and returned minutes later to see flames shooting from a window of a first-floor room at the front of the building.
"It happened so quickly," he said.
Firefighters from the station a block away on Second Street responded quickly, Rickman said. Fire Chief Mark Bisbee said they immediately went to work rescuing residents and doused the flames in 8-10 minutes.
Rickman said the hotel has 50 rooms three apartments in two buildings. He said about 45 men lived there. The fire was in the larger front building.
The building, constructed in 1927, had no sprinklers. The residents are a mix, some disabled, some struggling with substance abuse or in recovery, some on parole. All are men with little income.
Bisbee said the building was close to the top of his list of worries when he assumed leadership of the department in 2004. Though likely built to the standards of its time, it doesn't meet codes required of current construction, he said.
"If there's any silver lining, when it's rebuilt, they'll have to install sprinklers," Bisbee said.
The Santa Cruz County Chapter of the American Red Cross set up an emergency center around the corner at Marinovich Park on Second Street. Sondra Ziegler, coordinator of the Disaster Action Team, said residents were being fed soup and hot drinks, and pizza was on the way about 8p.m. She said the Red Cross would put the displaced in motel rooms, most likely for the next three days while living arrangements are sorted out.
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