Escondido Firefighters were dispatched to a fire at 260 N Midway, an apartment complex after the North Comm Dispatch Center began receiving calls at around 4:15 p.m. yesterday. On their approach, crew members from Station 2 observed a significant amount of smoke and promptly called for backup, escalating the incident to a second alarm.
Upon arrival, firefighters faced a blaze that had engulfed four apartment units and threatened to spread to an additional eight, according to Escondido Firefighters reports. Aggressive action over the following two hours enabled the teams to confine the damage to the original set of units, however, the remainder of the structure sustained smoke and water damage, rendering the whole building uninhabitable, which has become an all-too-familiar outcome in the breadth of urban fires witnessed in the city.
The incident left 23 individuals, including 17 adults and 6 children, without homes. The Red Cross stepped in promptly, assisting several families with temporary housing solutions. One individual required transportation to a medical facility for smoke inhalation but was listed in stable condition, and thankfully, no firefighters suffered injuries while combating the fire.
