Around 1:10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 29 police officers responded to a call regarding an explosion and subsequent fire at an apartment building at 1827 Euclid Street.
According to the SMPD, when they arrived they found a man standing outside the unit that was on fire. Because there was reason to believe the man caused the fire, he was arrested.
SMFD Battalion Chief Mike McElvaney said that when firefighters responded to the scene there were signs of a fire showing from the second floor of what he believed to be a six-unit apartment building.
“I think it took [the firefighters] 18 minutes from the dispatch to the fire knockdown,” McElvaney said. “There were two units that were pretty uninhabitable, pretty destroyed.” After the fire was put out all residents were allowed back in the building.
McElvaney said that one of the firefighters who responded to the incident went to the hospital for dehydration, where he was treated and released.
When the SMFD left investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the fire.
jennifer@www.smdp.com
