Heartland Fire & Rescue

Apartment Badly Damaged By Flames

LA MESA -- Police just before 12:30 p.m. Monday were assisting Heartland Fire & Rescue crews battling a structure fire at 8557 Lemon Avenue.

At 12:45 p.m., Heartland officials said the blaze had grown to two alarms and they recommended avoiding the area.

Traffic on that street was reported cut off in both directions.

By early afternoon the fire was out, but firefighters reported that one upstairs unit at the Stoneridge Apartments was gutted and the downstairs unit had been damaged by water and was evacuated for safety reasons.

Red Cross personnel were on the scene helping displaced residents.

Fire investigators had not determined a cause of the blaze. They said the fire was quickly upgraded to a second alarm because of the high heat and because the unit was surrounded by pines and others trees that could have ignited and spread the fire quickly through the neighborhood.