SerpApi.Org
Seven residents were displaced Tuesday after a fire left all four apartments in an Atascadero building uninhabitable.
Firefighters were dispatched at 10:07 a.m. to the two-story apartment building at 5470 Robles Ave., according to an Atascadero Fire and Emergency Services news release.
Atascadero police officers and the fire department’s battalion chief arrived to find the exterior balcony of a second-floor apartment engulfed in flames. The fire had already spread into the attic, where it was extensive and well established.
Both of Atascadero’s fire engines were responding to medical emergencies when the fire was reported. One engine cleared Twin Cities Community Hospital after completing a patient transfer and headed to the apartment building.
When the engine arrived, crews found significant fire throughout the attic and entered through the upstairs apartment, breaching the ceiling to reach the flames.
Firefighters knocked down the fire at 10:35 a.m., about 28 minutes after they were dispatched. Crews remained at the complex for approximately two hours completing overhaul operations.
Atascadero police commander Matt Chesson said no occupants were injured. The fire department said no emergency personnel were hurt.
The apartment below the fire sustained smoke and water damage, while two other apartments sustained smoke damage.
The four-unit building contains two upstairs and two downstairs apartments, city spokesperson Kelly Arebalo said.
Arebalo said all four apartments were temporarily uninhabitable because utilities had been shut off pending inspections Wednesday.
The American Red Cross was helping the seven displaced residents find temporary accommodations.
The response included 23 personnel, six engines, one ladder truck and three command vehicles from Atascadero Fire and Emergency Services, Templeton Fire and Emergency Services, Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire and Santa Margarita Fire Department.
The fire’s origin and cause remained under investigation as of Tuesday.
