Nov. 04--What San Rafael Fire Department officials are calling "heroic" action on the part of an apartment building manager and a dredging crew helped evacuate residents and stall a rapidly spreading fire Saturday morning in a large apartment complex in the city's Canal neighborhood.
Noel Funes, manager of the apartment building at 220 Canal St., saw smoke billowing at about 9:40 a.m. from the rear of an apartment on the second floor of the 43-unit building.
"When he saw the smoke, he went into the smoky apartment and evacuated the resident," said Battalion Chief Jeffrey Buscher. "Just as he was exiting, glass broke and flames came into the building."
At about the same time, a crew from Saw River Construction, a dredging company working nearby in the canal, edged their barge up to the building and turned their water hose on the spreading flames.
"The quick action of the dredge crew held the dangerous fire in check until we got there," the battalion chief said.
Firefighters soon arrived, helped evacuate threatened residents and knocked down flames within 10 minutes, the battalion chief said. No one was injured, but the Red Cross was called in to assist five to 10 residents displaced by the fire, which caused an estimated $30,000 in damage.
Investigators said it appears to have been started by the remains of a barbecue on the apartment deck. They noted that the apartment's smoke detector was not working because its battery had been
removed. They are working with building management to make sure smoke detectors in the complex are all functional in the future.
Contact Paul Liberatore via email at [email protected]
Copyright 2012 - The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.
