Firefighters in Oakland, California raced to put out a 5-alarm fire that erupted in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, KTVU reports.
The fire broke out around 8:20 a.m. and began as a two-alarm fire. It was upgraded to a five-alarm fire around 9:15 a.m.
Interim Fire Chief Melinda Drayton says they believe the fire began in a dumpster behind a commercial building at 718 Webster Street, according to KRON 4. The building is home to several restaurants and businesses on the first floor. Residents live on the second floor.
Drayton said the fire department made sure to notify residents and other people in the area. There were no serious injuries.
“We made sure that all the residents and tenants below the fire made it out safely this morning,” Drayton told KRON4 at the scene.
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About 70 firefighters were on scene to fight the fire, The East Bay Times reports. They had the fire under control within an hour of sounding the fifth alarm.
“It’s a significant old building in Chinatown,” Drayton said. “All the occupants were out of the building…There were times during the last two hours we were contemplating going defensive, having to ladder pipe the building to save the building, but our crews did an exceptional job.”
Businesses in Chinatown have struggled during the pandemic because of a combination of stay-at-home orders and anti-Asian racism. The building was home to several businesses like the popular Rang Dong Vietnamese restaurant, according to CBS San Francisco. There is no word yet on how much damage restaurants, businesses and residencies incurred.
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