Hayward Fire Department Investigating Carport Fire Hours After Child Escapes Nearby Apartment Blaze
HAYWARD (CBS SF) -- Unattended cooking caused a fire in a Hayward apartment late Thursday night that prompted three people, including a 3-year-old boy, to escape via a second-story window, a fire department spokesman said Friday.
Three people jumped to safety and a 3-year-old child was thrown from a second-floor window to a neighbor on the ground during a fire at a Hayward apartment late Thursday night, a spokesman said.
Crews responded to multiple reports of a fire in the 22000 block of Seventh Street just before 11 p.m. Thursday, Hayward fire spokesman Don Nichelson said.
Arriving firefighters located heavy smoke and fire coming from a top floor apartment of a two-story, four-unit building, Nichelson said.
Nichelson said five residents were in the home when the fire broke out.
Three adults had to jump from a bedroom window to the ground about 25 feet down. A 3-year-old child was thrown from the window and was caught by a neighbor waiting below, according to Nichelson.
The child, Maurice Muccular, was transported to a hospital for evaluation but was uninjured. Two adults were injured from the jump. The extent of their injuries was not immediately available.
Maurice told KPIX 5 he was ok and had "just jumped from the window."
No other injuries were reported.
The fire, which originated in the kitchen, was knocked down at about 11:15 p.m.
Nichelson said the apartment was a total loss. The three other apartments in the building sustained smoke and water damage but were salvageable.
Hayward Fire Department Investigating Carport Fire Hours After Child Escapes Apartment Blaze Nearby
Twelve residents in the building were displaced in the blaze. The cause remains under investigation, Nichelson said.
Just hours later at about 4 a.m., firefighters were called to another fire (again on Seventh street near C Street) where several cars were burning in and around a carport.
Battalion Chief Scott Anderson said it wasn't clear if there was any connection between the two fires.
"We got a call of a fire on Seventh Street close to the location where we were just five hours ago," he said.
Anderson said when firefighters arrived at the second fire they found a carport with five cars underneath it and four more cars outside "fully involved with fire."
As of 6 a.m. the fire department was still putting flames on the cars, all of which were destroyed. No one was injured in the incident, but arson investigators continue to look into the situation.
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