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Fire Contained At East Bay Retirement Community

WALNUT CREEK (CBS SF) -- Firefighters will be working throughout the night to fully extinguish hot spots associated with a two-alarm fire that broke out at a retirement community in Walnut Creek on Friday evening.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m., the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District began receiving reports of the fire at a building in Rossmoor, a senior adult community near the golf course of the same name.

Fire Marshal Lewis Broschard said that the blaze was upgraded to a two-alarm fire before units arrived on the scene because its thick smoke was visible and because of numerous callers reporting the fire.

When crews arrived at 1209 Running Springs Drive, "the building was heavily involved in fire. Almost all eight units were involved at that point," Broschard said.

Crews contained the fire less than an hour later, around 7:20 p.m., and all 13 residents were safely evacuated without injury, Broschard said.

The fire department was still on the scene as of 10:15 p.m., and Broschard said that crews would be working overnight to completely extinguish hot spots left in the building, from which smoke was still visibly rising.

"There's going to be a considerable amount of overhaul—tearing apart walls and things—to put the fire completely out," he said.

The American Red Cross responded to assist the displaced residents, but Broschard said that they might have been relocated within Rossmoor, which has approximately 6,700 residential units throughout the community.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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