10 Davis residents displaced by small fire
On Saturday, Oct. 28, firefighters were alerted to a small fire in South Davis. Responders arrived at the Sharps & Flats Apartment Complex at 1660 Drew Circle and found smoke floating out of a window that had been broken by the fire.
“We got the call at 10:31, and the team arrived shortly after,” said Fire Division Chief Joseph Tenney. “It was in the morning, Oct. 28, a Saturday. The first engine company got there, checked the water flow, alarm and sprinklers, and made sure everything was under control […] about three rooms were damaged by the sprinklers […] 10 people were displaced.”
While the fire was hazardous, it was a flood from the sprinklers that damaged the rooms in the upper floors of the complex, making it uninhabitable for 10 residents, who were assisted by the Davis Fire Department and American Red Cross. Their identities and stories, however, are not available to the public for privacy reasons.
“The cause of the fire was a candle,” said Fire Captain Richard Moore, the lead investigator on the case. “It had been left burning for a while and ended up starting a fire that made the sprinklers kick in. We haven’t found anything else.”
A single candle caused a small desk fire. Management at the Sharps & Flats Apartment complex, along with J Street Apartments and The Grove, is owned by the FPI Management corporation, which declined to comment on the situation.
Although the fire didn’t occur on UC Davis’ campus property or dormitories, the majority of residents at Sharps & Flats Apartments are UC Davis students. There are over 80 apartment complexes in Davis, most of which are used to house the thousands of students that attend the university.
Written by: Ahash Francis — city@theaggie.org
