DHS Apartment Fire Drives Tenants From Homes

DESERT HOT SPRINGS – Some Desert Hot Springs residents are out of their homes after an apartment fire Wednesday morning.

It started just before 8:30 a.m. at a small 4-unit complex on the corner of Mesquite Avenue and 2nd Street.

“I hear the landlord, he’s like ‘fire, fire, fire’. I come out, thought they were just playing around. I hear an explosion, windows shatter everywhere.. run in the house, tell my girl ‘we gotta go, the place is on fire’,” said tenant Jose Prado.

Another woman says she safely made it out, along with her pets.

More than a dozen firefighters arrived and had the fire out in less than 15 minutes.

No residents were hurt.

One firefighter injured his wrist breaking down a door.

The blackened apartment was vacant, but renovations were being made when the fire ignited.

“The landlord and one of his laborers were taking tiles off the kitchen. It was acetone and it reacted to the stove, it engulfed,” said Prado.

While the fire was contained to the one unit, there was heavy smoke and water damage in the other three.

The fire is under investigation.

The city’s Building and Safety Department says tenants will be out of their homes for at least a week.

The Red Cross is helping out those displaced tenants.