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Body found after San Rafael apartment fire
Investigators in San Rafael said a body was found at the site of a massive apartment fire.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - Fire and police officials in San Rafael said Friday that a deceased person was found at the site of a suspicious fire that tore through an apartment complex a day earlier.
Body found at site
What we know:
At an afternoon news conference, Police Sgt. Justin Graham said the victim was located toward the back of the complex in the 500 block of Canal Street.
The Marin County coroner’s office said the victim was a woman. She has not yet been identified.
Two still missing
What they're saying:
Two people remain missing, though investigators have not confirmed whether the body found is one of them.
Authorities said they believe the fire, which broke out at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday at the 19-unit complex, may have been intentionally set because of how rapidly it spread. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting with the investigation.
"Based on the nature of the way that it burned and how fast it burned," and witness interviews are also adding to investigators' belief that the rapid-spreading fire may have been intentionally set, Graham said."We’re taking this very seriously and want to get answers for the people who were displaced."
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The blaze injured eight residents and a police officer and displaced more than 50 people.
Graham said investigators may bring in cadaver dogs to search for the missing and are also deploying dogs trained to detect accelerants.
Crews have not been able to fully search the site because the structure remains unstable.
'Tight-knit community'
Big picture view:
Graham thanked mutual aid agencies and community members who rushed to help residents escape.
"This is a very tight knit community, and they came to the rescue of very many people here that were at the apartment complex," Graham said. "There were a lot of civilians who put themselves in harm's way. And while normally we would ask people to not do that, if it wasn't for their efforts, this could have turned out a lot more tragically."
Craig Ponsford, who lives two buildings away from the complex where the fire sparked, said he saw flames at the back of the building on Thursday morning.
"It was raining embers as big as five to six inches," said Ponsford. He said he lived through the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm and when he saw the flames Thursday he instantly tried to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent homes or his building.
"You got to keep things wet, so I had three to four hoses going and just locked the sprinklers and had them pointing onto the building and onto the bushes," Ponsford said.
Shelter housing up to 60
Quinn Gardner, San Rafael Fire Department's director of emergency services, said that her agency is currently serving about 50 to 60 displaced residents at the Boro Community Center.
She said the shelter is expected to stay open through the weekend to help place families in the proper housing.
She repeated her request to community members to refrain from dropping off donations, but rather gift cards for the victims to get what they need. Or, people can donate to the Canal Alliance.
Anyone with information, photos or video of the fire is asked to contact the ATF tip line at 1-888-ATF-FIRE.