ALBANY — Arson and domestic violence investigations are underway after an apartment fire prompted evacuations at a UC Berkeley housing community Monday morning, authorities said.
According to the University of California Police Department, officers were called at 10:41 a.m. to a home in the 700 block of Ohlone Avenue at the University Village apartment complex for a report of a family disturbance. Responding officers found two people, one adult and one minor, who were treated on the scene for minor injuries by the Albany Fire Department.
During that initial response, officers learned one more resident, also an adult, was still inside, and tried to contact that person. But moments later, they smelled smoke coming from inside the apartment, and both Albany and Berkeley firefighters went into the apartment and rescued the resident.
Firefighters limited the fire to the room where it started, but not before three buildings at the complex — 105, 106 and 107 — were fully or partially evacuated as the fire was being extinguished.
While the complex was given an “all clear” shortly after 2 p.m., the apartment where the fire occurred, and another unit that sustained water damage, were not immediately deemed safe for the residents to return.
Police said the UC fire marshal and a Cal Fire arson investigator are examining the fire, and that the person who was inside the apartment at the time of the 911 call was “being detained for domestic violence battery, pending a medical evaluation.” A specific cause of the fire, including whether it was intentionally set, was not disclosed by authorities Monday.
Anyone with information for police or fire investigators can contact UCPD at 510-642-6760.
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