One person was killed and another was injured in a Sunday morning fire at a San Anselmo apartment next to Sir Francis Drake High School.
The victim who died was a woman, and a man from the same apartment was taken to Marin General Hospital with minor injuries and smoke inhalation, said San Anselmo police Sgt. Rob Schneider. Their names were not released. The two-alarm fire was reported at 7:53 a.m. by numerous 911 calls from residents at the El Paseo Apartments, 1355 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., just west of the Drake High tennis courts. The fire started in a second-story unit and spread to an apartment directly above it. Both two-bedroom units and their contents were destroyed. Schneider said a San Anselmo police officer was first on the scene and encountered the man coming out of the second-floor apartment. The officer attempted to rush in and save the woman but was turned away by fire and smoke, Schneider said. äRoss Valley firefighters found the woman's body after the fire was extinguished. It is the first fatal fire in San Anselmo since 1992 or 1993, according to Ross Valley fire spokeswoman Joanne Lewis. Chris Lyman, a Berkeley resident and the owner of the 28-unit complex, said the sister of the victim was notified Sunday morning and came by briefly to identify the body. "Obviously she was distraught," Lyman said. Four engine companies responded involving 26 personnel, and the fire was under control by 8:25 a.m. Damage was estimated at $200,000 by the Ross Valley Fire Department, and no other apartments were affected. Other fire agencies involved were Kentfield, Ross, San Rafael, Novato, Larkspur, Mill Valley and Marin County Fire. Also on scene were Fairfax police and the American Red Cross. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard was shut down for 45 to 60 minutes because of the blaze, Schneider said. A man and his son rent the third-floor apartment that was burned, but they were in San Diego visiting relatives for the holidays, Lyman said. Another resident of El Paseo who did not want to be identified said the man who escaped the second-story apartment had lived there for about five years and the woman was staying there temporarily. Lyman said the building that burned had seven units and was built in 1979. The two apartments that burned were each about 1,200 square feet. A multi-agency investigation team and officials from the Marin County Coroner's Office were picking through ashes inside the two apartments into the afternoon Sunday. Read more San Anselmo stories at the IJ's San Anselmo section. Contact Brent Ainsworth via e-mail at bainsworth@marinij.com |