Several residents of the city were displaced as a result of two fires in the past week.
In the first incident, Tuesday, Nov. 8 it was a unit in an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Edmart that caught on fire and in the second, a Sunday morning fire, Nov. 13, caused extensive damage to a home on Franklin Street.
Escalon Fire Department Battalion Chief Dan Morriss said the Tuesday fire was called in shortly after 9 a.m. by a neighbor who smelled smoke.
“It was one unit, it was in a row of four units on that side of the complex but it only significantly damaged one unit,” said Morriss.
Nobody was home at the time of the fire.
“When we arrived, fire was showing through the front window, we got a quick knockdown on it,” explained Morriss.
He said mutual aid came in from Farmington Fire and Stanislaus County and members of the Escalon Fire Department remained on scene until about 4 p.m. for clean-up and investigation.
“It looks as if it was accidental, electrical in nature,” Morriss said, adding that the fire displaced the family of four but they were able to stay in the area, living with other family members. He also said there was an outpouring of support from the community to assist the fire victims.
Sunday’s fire on Franklin came in shortly after 7:30 a.m.
“There was a 9-1-1 report of fire coming from the rooftop of a house, the police department arrived before we did, noticed fire coming through the attic, coming from the roof,” said Morriss. “They notified the occupants and the police department assisted us with evacuating a bed-bound Hospice patient, the ambulance was called to transport the patient to a medical facility and everyone evacuated safely.”
Again, Stanislaus County and Farmington units responded with mutual aid. The cause was determined to be electrical, starting in the attic, but spreading into the living area of the home, causing extensive damage.
“We had it under control in about 25 minutes but the house is uninhabitable,” Morriss said.
Three people were living in the home and Red Cross was notified.
“They also have a large supportive family that was helping each other out,” added Morriss.
Escalon firefighters remained on scene until about noon for the investigation and clean-up operations.
