15 people displaced after apartment fire

Multiple families in Indio were looking for a place to sleep after several apartments went up in flames Wednesday afternoon.

Officials with CAL FIRE say the a two-alarm fire in the Andorra Apartment complex started at about 3:50 p.m.

The fire sparked on the second or third floor of the complex, located at 81-700 Ave. 46, near Alladin Street. Fire officials said the fire was burning on the north side of the apartment complex.

“My fire alarm did not go off, so the only reason I found out there was a fire is because I smelled it,” said Teresa Dominguez who escaped the blaze. “I grabbed my purse and my shoes and tried to go out through the front, but there was a big cloud of smoke. Of course at this point I didn’t know where the fire was coming from, so I closed the door and I was going to go through the emergency exit,” said Dominguez.

Six units at the complex were destroyed by fire. Families were living in four of those units, the other two empty. Cal Fire said ten adults and eleven children were displaced.

“I was down the street, I really didn’t think nothing of it, and then I pulled in and I was like that”s my apartment,” said Javier Dominguez.

“We heard a frantic knocking at the door and somebody is telling us to get out because the building is on fire, so get the most important stuff and lets get out. So we walked out and realized it was the building right next to us,” said Jacob Zapata.

“It’s all burned down, I lost everything, my television, all kinds of artwork, just down the drain,” said Timothy Deanda.

One man was injured during the blaze. He slipped and fell as he was trying to help his neighbors.

Investigators determined the fire was started unintentionally but the cause is still under investigation.