1 person dead, 3 hurt when a fire rips through Oakland building

Firefighters rescued seven people who had been trapped in the building on San Pablo and Mead avenues that houses a drug rehabilitation center.

Battalion Chief Erik Logan of the Oakland Fire Department said firefighters who initially entered the structure thought they saw a body on the second floor, but couldn’t reach the person before flames and heavy smoke caused them to pull out of the building.

The fire fire broke at the building, which is near Market Street and off Interstate 980, at 5:40 a.m.

Logan said firefighters used ladder trucks to rescue seven people, three people were treated for smoke inhalation and were in critical condition, he said.

Fantazhia LaTonda, 44, one of the residents evacuated, was sitting nearly a block away from the fire huddled under blankets with her boyfriend, watching her home go up in flames.

LaTonda lives in an apartment on the third floor, next door to where she said the fire started.

“I woke up to get a snack and I went to lay back down and I looked out the window and I saw sparks and I kept hearing crackling,” she said.

In a panic, she and her boyfriend attempted to open the door of their room but she said the door handles were too hot to touch.

The firefighters grabbed them through the window and pulled them onto the fire escape, she said.