Updated at 6:55 p.m. July 13, 2015
Careless smoking sparked a blaze that damaged three units at a University City apartment complex Monday afternoon and left five people in need of interim housing, fire officials said.
The noninjury blaze in the 3800 block of Nobel Drive began spreading about 1:15 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Crews were able to confine the flames to a single fourth-floor unit, though two residences below it sustained water damage, SDFRD spokesman Lee Swanson said.
The personnel had the three-alarm blaze under control within 25 minutes.
The American Red Cross was called in to help the displaced residents — all of them adults — arrange for temporary lodging, Swanson said.
Investigators set the monetary losses at $32,000.
— City News Service
