Fire Crews Extinguish Blaze At Upland Apartment Complex, 51 Units Damaged

UPLAND (CBSLA) — Dozens of families were displaced after a fire ripped through an apartment building in Upland Tuesday afternoon.

According to the San Bernardino County Fire Department, the blaze started at about 2:45 p.m. in the shared attic space of a two-story apartment building in the 900 block of West 7th Street.

"It went by really fast," Debra Perez, a victim, said. "It started upstairs in one of the corner apartments, and then it rushed to the middle and then it just went all the way around until they were able to stop it."

Firefighters said the large attic space combined with local winds to create conditions for the fire to spread.

"It really pushed it really quick through there," Mike McClintock, a spokesperson for the fire department, said. "So, a lot of damage."

McClintock said 51 units had suffered some sort of damage — smoke, water or fire damage directly.

The department said one firefighter was taken to a local hospital with a heat-related injury, and an unknown number of pets died in the blaze.

"Awful thing is that we did lose some animals in the building that their families were at work and they weren't able to get them out," Perez said.

Others lost everything, including Miguel Hernandez and Celine Mason.

"We barely moved into this place two days ago, and now we're gonna have to find a new home again," Hernandez said.

"We just got settled in basically last night and now we have to do it all over again," Mason said.

The Red Cross initially set up a temporary evacuation point at Citrus Elementary School. However, that closed Wednesday morning and was transitioned to a virtual evacuation point. Anyone needing help was told to call the Red Cross at 571-595-7771.

The Red Cross and local schools were helping those displaced find shelter.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the fire.