Fire Displaces Residents at Sunnyhills Apartments

Article updated: 5:20 p.m. Wednesday

About 17 tenants at Sunnyhills Apartments will sleep somewhere else Wednesday night after a losing their roof in a fire that started slightly before 11 a.m.

All together, there were three two-story apartment/townhome units that caught on fire and a single-story unit that was not as damaged.

Quan Luu and his wife, Than Doan, returned to their apartment after a trip to the grocery store to find that their living quarters for the past 15 years was uninhabitable.

"It's wet inside and smells like smoke," said their daughter. "It's not safe to stay." She said her parents would probably stay at a motel provided by the American Red Cross.

No tenants were injured, and no one went to the hospital, said Battalion Chief Americo Silvi of the Milpitas Fire Department.

It took one and a half hours to get the fire under control, he said.

"These are difficult fires to fight, because typically, the occupancies are tight," said Silvi, referring to smaller stairwells, hallways and bedrooms.

Firefighters used a two-pronged approach. Some used the ladder to access the roof, peeling it back to expose the attic, releasing gases and heat. That made it safer for those on the ground, who went in through the front door and made their way up.

The size and scope of the fire required all 15 firefighters on shift—three engines, two trucks and the Urban Search and Rescue vehicle—and backup from Fremont and San Jose fire departments, said Capt. Rick Frawley.

A plumber soldering copper pipes with a torch told Fire Investigator Eric Emmanuele that he believes he started the fire.

Emmanuele investigated the building this afternoon and said his findings were consistent with the statement the plumber had given him. Although this type of ignition is not unheard of, he said it is the only time in the past five years that it happened in Milpitas.

The plumber had been on the second floor soldering a shower pipe. He was working in a gap between the walls that separated two apartments. Emmanuele said it looks like the insulation caught on fire and went up into the attic.

The building, which looks like it was built in the late '50s or early '60s, he said, does not have any firestops. 

Two firefighters will stay at the apartment site throughout the night in case of any embers, said Capt. Rick Frawley.

"It is so windy tonight," said Emmanuele. He said because the building insulation is the type that is blown in, "it has the ability to hide fire and small smoldering spots."

A property manager said all the tenants were being notified.

"It's being taken care of now," she said.

Neighbor Johanna Beals, who lives in a separate building on the premises, said, "I'm just really glad that no one was hurt because of this fire. That is what is more important in incidents like this."