Clairemont apartment fire displaces 21 residents

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A two-alarm fire tore through a Clairemont apartment
complex Tuesday, injuring four people, leaving 21 residents homeless and causing
about $1.1 million in damages.

A cooking accident sparked the blaze in the 3800 block of Caminito
Aguilar just after midnight, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

One of the first public-safety personnel to arrive at the two-story
complex, San Diego police Officer Zach Bradley, rescued two girls, ages 13 and
16, and their mother by catching them as they jumped out a window of their
burning second-floor apartment, SDFRD spokesman Maurice Luque said.

It took firefighters about a half-hour to subdue the flames, which
spread through a total of four rental units, Luque said.

Medics took two teenage girls and two women to hospitals for treatment
of smoke inhalation and non-life-threatening burns.

The American Red Cross was called in to help the displaced residents
arrange for emergency lodging.

Investigators determined that the blaze was sparked by grease that
caught fire as a resident was cooking french fries in her downstairs apartment,
Luque said.

The monetary losses were set at $900,000 to the structure and $200,000
to contents.