Christmas Eve Fire Displaces Two

By Bay City News

A cooking fire in a Menlo Park apartment spread to the unit and attic above it tonight before firefighters extinguished it, fire officials said. The fire at 815 Roble Ave. was reported at 6:57 p.m.

The apartment's occupant reported the fire after a grease fire spread to the ceiling of her kitchen, fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. She attempted to put the fire out with baking soda, but when that was unsuccessful, she fled the unit. The fire burned in the kitchen and extended through the walls into the unit above it and the attic.

Firefighters arrived at 7 p.m. and had the fire under control in about 15 minutes. The residents of both apartments were displaced, but both had other places to go so the Red Cross did not respond to tonight's fire.

Schapelhouman estimated that the fire caused between $35,000 and $40,000 in structural damage, and about $15,000 in contents from both units, with the damage mainly in the first floor apartment.

No one was injured by the fire.

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