Lake Park Condos Hit by 2-Alarm Blaze; Veteran Firefighter Saves Rookie

Two residents were taken to a hospital after a two-alarm fire at the vast Lake Park Condominiums at 5712 Baltimore Dr. late Tuesday night—a blaze that brought out 32 firefighters from a half-dozen departments and left six units ruined or damaged.

But the fire—which authorities said began on the second* floor and spread to units above and below it, resulting in dozens of people being evacuated—could have been worse for Station 11 firefighter Sean Finley.

As he was looking for victims on the third floor of a unit west of Baltimore in northwest La Mesa, the floor gave way beneath him.

“I’m not hurt at all,” Finley, a firefighter for just 1½ years, said a little before midnight.

He can thank 28-year veteran John Burningham for that.

“He’s a young, strong kid,” said Burningham, also based at the Allison Avenue station downtown. “As he was going down, he was able to grab a piece of the wall, and I was stuck against the wall as the floor left me.”

Burningham said he reached down—“and our hands just met. And I hung on to him. I leaned to the left, and he scrambled to pull himself up.”

Safely back on the ground, Finley, 23, was checked out as a precaution and found to be OK. His engine was the second to arrive on site—probably 5 to 7 minutes after the first report, said Burningham, depicted by a Heartland Fire biography as having five children.

An AMR ambulance crew stood at the ready and checked vital signs of a half-dozen firefighters, said crew member Danny Padilla.

Doug Kappel of the American Red Cross sought out displaced residents, who would be given hotel lodging, clothing and any needed medications, he said.

According to Heartland Fire & Rescue—the umbrella agency that includes La Mesa Fire Department— firefighters from La Mesa responded at 9:56 p.m.

“On their arrival, the second-floor condo was well involved in fire and the fire was extending to the third floor,” officials said. “Two residents were transported to the hospital, one from injuries related to the fire and one from injuries related to a fall during the fire.”

Three units sustained heavy fire damage, said Rick Sitta, deputy fire chief in El Cajon. Three others had smoke and water damage, he said while briefing TV and print reporters late Tuesday night.

A man suffered smoke inhalation and burns on both hands—possibly in the unit where the fire originated, Sitta said.

“We pulled a lot of people out of a building that was involved,” Sitta said, “but they will most likely be allowed back in their units.”

Power was turned off to the affected building, however, and many residents sat outside on a cool night, waiting for word on when they could return.

A portion of Baltimore was closed to through traffic between Lapori Street and Lake Park Way, but was opened about 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, said a Heartland Fire dispatcher.

According to a report on The San Diego Union-Tribune website,  a physician’s assistant at Rady Children’s Hospital had returned home and pulled into the condo parking lot when she heard “a popping noise and then saw a man appearing dazed who came out of the second-floor unit at the end of the building.”

“He was mumbling something; it was like he was stunned,” Rady's employee Raquel Sanchez was quoted as saying.

Sanchez called 911, the U-T said, continuing:

La Mesa police officers arrived within a minute, and began knocking on doors telling residents to get out of the building.

“There was a rubbery smell with the black plume of smoke [from the man’s unit] before a big fire broke out several minutes later,” she said.

An estimate on fire loss has not been made yet and the fire is under investigation, officials said.

According to residents, the four-story Lake Park complex has about 500 units—studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments—and is about 40 years old. It was hit by a fire about two years ago, said one resident.

The blaze brought out eight engines, one rescue vehicle, two trucks and four chiefs (with their own vehicles), Sitta said. Besides the Heartland member agencies La Mesa, Lemon Grove and El Cajon fire departments, units were sent by San Miguel, Santee and San Diego.

*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the fire started on the first floor. It started on the second floor.