Investigators interviewed Christine Frazier, 44, Tuesday at Santa Rita Jail, where she told them she remembers flames erupting shortly after she thought she placed a match in an ashtray.
"She was so drunk, so high, it's possible that she dumped the match into the glass of brandy, or into brandy that had spilled on the table," police Detective Wayland Gee said. "She doesn't know."
The two-alarm fire displaced about 20 residents of Bessie Coleman Court and caused about $300,000 in damage.
It destroyed four upstairs units at 2530 Barbers Point Road and left up to seven other apartments temporarily uninhabitable due to water damage.
At first Frazier denied knowing how the fire started, according to police.
"She was, of course, real defensive because she did not want it to seem like she started it intentionally," Gee said.
Frazier allegedly told investigators that she was partying with her brother-in-law in the apartment Friday night and that he was gone when the fire began shortly before 9:15 p.m.
Frazier also said she tried to extinguish the fire with a glass of water. But as she splashed water on the flames, they spread even more, she said.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control within about 20 minutes.
Patrol officers at the scene arrested Frazier on suspicion of public drunkenness. She was also wanted on a misdemeanor warrant that accused her of using illegal narcotics.
It is unknown if Frazier will face any criminal charges in connection with the fire.
One firefighter suffered second-degree burns while battling the fire. He was treated at Alameda Hospital and released, said Division Chief Corey Merrick
Bessie Coleman Court is a 52-unit complex in three former Navy Lodge buildings.
It's part of the Alameda Point Collaborative, which is made up of 15 organizations that joined together to take advantage of the requirement that programs serving the homeless get priority at closed military bases.
The complex opened in March 2002 and serves victims of domestic violence and their children.
