Anaheim Fire Injures 4, Leaves 63 Homeless

Four residents of an Anaheim apartment complex were injured Saturday and 63 people left homeless after a kitchen fire spread through the second floor of Gallery Apartments in the 1400 block of West North Street, officials said.

Four women were taken to Anaheim Memorial Medical Center after suffering from smoke inhalation, said Robyn Butler, spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department. One woman sustained several cuts after trying to break out of a window.

“It was a difficult fire because it was on the second floor with a common hallway that also caught fire,” Butler said.

Eight apartments were badly damaged in the 3:47 p.m. two-alarm fire, which took firefighters 22 minutes to control.

American Red Cross officials opened a shelter at Anaheim High School for the 63 displaced residents, said Diane Witmer, spokeswoman for the organization. The families lived in 14 units at the complex, she said.

Damage was estimated at $175,000.

Butler said the fire started after someone left something cooking on the stove in one of the apartments. Residents from eight apartments on the first and third floors also had to be evacuated after officials cut the utilities.