40 displaced as 3-alarm blaze guts Sacramento-area apartments
A wind-swept three-alarm fire tore through a North Highlands apartment complex late Tuesday chasing more than 40 residents from their homes and sending three to local hospitals.
The fast-moving blaze at Estate Apartments, 3651 A St., broke out just before 11:30 p.m., gutting much of one its buildings and cutting power to a second as flames sliced through utility lines, forcing residents in all of its 32 units to evacuate, said Capt. Parker Wilbourn, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman. Video from fire crews at the scene show one of the buildings fully engulfed, flames roiling throughout.
“The fire intensity was incredible with the wind playing a major factor in the fire’s rapid spread,” Wilbourn said. “We’re fortunate there were no fatalities and no additional buildings damaged. This fire could’ve easily been much worse if not for the hard work of over 85 firefighters working to contain the blaze to the building of origin.”
Many of those residents were seeking shelter Wednesday morning. The apartment’s manager and the Red Cross are working with them to find beds, while Sacramento Municipal Utility District crews worked to restore power to the units spared from the flames. Responders took two people to hospitals in stable condition with smoke inhalation, Wilbourn said; a third was taken to medical care by a neighbor, their condition unknown.
The fire quickly went to a second alarm, then a third, as high winds ahead of storms pushing into Northern California and the Sacramento region fed the flames. More than 85 firefighters attacked the blaze for more than an hour to wrestle it under control and continued to work into the early hours Wednesday.
It’s not yet known what caused the blaze. Wilbourn said Metro Fire officials were expected to learn more later in the day as investigators sift through the scene.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 8:31 AM.
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