Fellow Tenants Respond to Fire, May Have Limited Parkway Drive Blaze

Updated at 10 a.m. Thursday

Four or five male neighbors responded to a fellow tenant’s screams Wednesday night, helping battle a smoky blaze that began in her kitchen—and possibly keeping it from igniting other units.

“It didn’t spread as rapidly as it could [have],” a La Mesa firefighter said about 90 minutes after six fire units, including one from San Diego, responded to the Parkway Apartments at 7546 Parkway Drive.

Janine Conway says she was alone in her downstairs two-bedroom unit, warming up some grease in a pan, when she stepped away to a bedroom.  When she returned, a fire had started.

“I came out screaming,” said Conway, who shares the apartment with her 16-year-old son, John, a sophomore at Helix Charter High School.

John was nearby, visiting friends, when the fire hit about 6 p.m., she said an hour later.

“I said: ‘Help! Help!’ And that started the ball rolling,” Conway said while waiting for the arrival of two representatives of the American Red Cross, who offered free lodging to the Conways.

Conway said she’s lived in her unit for 1½ years and lost much of the contents to smoke damage.

Sonny Saghera, a spokesman for Heartland Fire & Rescue agency, said about $50,000 was the damage estimate for property and content.

“The fire was initially put out by residents with dry chemical extinguishers and then with water from hoselines from our fire engines,” Saghera said Thursday.

Units were dispatched at 6:06 p.m., and the first two fire engines arrived in 6 minutes, he said, adding that the fire was completely extinguished in less than 10 minutes.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to use anything,” Conway said. “The smoke damage is bad.”

Her next-door neighbors in the complex that overlooks Bob Stall Chevrolet said their unit was undamaged, except for the smoky smell permeating the two-story building.

Unidentified neighbors used “dry-chem” extinguishers before fire crews arrived—unaware that a grease fire is best fought by covering it and turning down the heat, said Adam Beardsley, deputy fire marshal.

Beardsley said a Class K fire extinguisher—costing $200 to $300 each—is advised for a grease fire. Such extinguishers are required for restaurants, for example.

He said the National Fire Protection Association website had good advice on how to deal with cooking fires.

Smothering a grease fire is the best step to take, cutting off oxygen, Beardsley said. But he cautioned that the appliance needs to be turned off as well and the pan allowed to cool before it’s uncovered.

Although a La Mesa firefighter called the blaze relatively “benign,” Conway had a different take.

“I’m glad it wasn’t worse, but it’s a disaster at this time of the year,” she said.