(KRON) — A power strip set a blanket on fire which then spread to a couch, resulting in a four-alarm apartment fire at an Oakland retirement home Friday morning. Three people, including a firefighter, were injured as a result of the blaze. There were no fatalities.
The fire was under control as of around 7:30 a.m., according to a tweet from Oakland firefighters. At least nine residents of the Grand Lake Gardens retirement home were rescued from hallways, stairwells and balconies, firefighters tweeted.
According to an Oakland Fire Department briefing, the fifth-floor resident left their door open, which allowed the fire to spread. Had the door been closed, the fire would have been contained to one room.
A majority of the residents were elderly, requiring assistance of two firefighters for each resident evacuated, firefighters said. The firefighting operation was complicated due to a “stand pipe,” which allows firefighters to hook into a water supply in the building, being inoperable for an unknown reason. Firefighters had to run hoses from the street.
A total of 85 residents were evacuated from the residence, located at 401 Santa Clara Ave., near I-580 in Oakland. This is the latest of several recent fires to have sprung up in Oakland near the 580.
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No smoke or flames were seen coming from the building in the photos tweeted out by firefighters from the scene.
KRON4’s Will Tran reporting from the scene, described evacuees from the home sitting outside on the street in wheelchairs, being comforted with blankets. Several people were also taken away from the scene on stretchers.
Firefighters with the San Francisco Fire Department assisted with the operation, providing mutual aid and transporting the nearly 80 seniors displaced by the fire, according to a tweet from SF Mayor London Breed.
