10 Fresno residents lose home as two big fires force brief emergency services suspension

Two two-alarm fires 20 minutes and less than 10 miles apart late Saturday forced Fresno Fire Department officials to suspend medical aid calls in the city briefly.

There were no injuries to residents or firefighters in the two incidents, the first at the Willow Wood Apartments on Kings Canyon Road, east of Peach Avenue, and the second at a private residence on West Dakota and Teilman avenues.

“When crews initially arrived, the first engine that got here had heavy fire showing from one unit that was actually in the center of a three-pack apartment building,” said Fresno fire battalion Chief Tim Fulmer.

“They’re single-story apartments, one unit heavily involved, and crews were able to quickly get water on it and try to get that knocked down, but they’re also trying to protect exposures to the buildings next to those. We ended up calling a second alarm out here because of the extensive fire that we did have to protect the adjacent apartments.”

One of the three units was a total loss, and units to the left and right were damaged in the fire, Fulmer said. The fire displaced about 10 residents of the apartment complex and one dog.

The fire at the residence on West Dakota started in a shed behind the house, battalion Chief William Veiga said. Fire crews extinguished the fire before it spread to the home or neighboring houses.

“We had some challenges – the shed was under some power lines,” Veiga said. “The crews were able to make their way back there. We did what is called an offensive attack, and we were able to put the fire out as well as complete a search and make sure nobody was in or around the shed.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2021 at 7:12 AM.