Larkfield apartment fire sends one person to hospital

A neighbor helped a 67-year-old man escape the fire that nearly destroyed his home Friday morning.

The Woelfe Drive neighbor called 911 at about 10:40 a.m. to report heavy black smoke was pouring from his neighbor's home, Central Fire officials said.

He then helped the elderly man, who can walk but also uses a wheelchair, and a dog get out of the house, said Cyndi Foreman, a fire prevention officer with Central Fire.

Flames had engulfed the two-bedroom, single-story unit when fire crews arrived, Foreman said. Firefighters contained the blaze before it spread to adjacent units, which share common walls, Foreman said.

The man was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, and he remained at the hospital Friday afternoon, Foreman said."

Investigators were still trying to determine how the fire started.

"It appears the fire started in a bedroom and spread to the rest of the house," Foreman said.

Foreman declined to identify the resident. His condition was unknown. He rents the property and lives with a caretaker, who was not home at the time of the fire, Foreman said.

Smoke and fire rendered the unit uninhabitable, she said.