SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Seven people were injured early Monday while escaping a burning East Village residential hotel, in several cases getting out by leaping from a second-floor window.
The blaze at Hotel Heritage in the 500 block of Ninth Avenue erupted about 2:45 a.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. It took crews about 20 minutes to subdue the flames, SDFRD spokesman Maurice Luque said.
Medics took the injured -- including three who jumped out an upstairs window to get away from the fire and smoke -- to UCSD Medical Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital with smoke inhalation and leg injuries. One was admitted in serious condition, and the others were treated for minor to moderate trauma, Luque said.
Investigators determined that the blaze started in a second-floor room and was accidental in origin, though the precise cause remained unknown in the late afternoon.
The monetary losses were set at $1 million to the structure and $350,000 to contents. Damage to the three-story building was extensive enough that it might wind up deemed a total loss, according to Luque.
The American Red Cross was called in to help 14 residents secure emergency lodging. Other displaced tenants were able to make their own housing arrangements, the spokesman said.
THIS IS A STORY UPDATE. For an earlier version, read below.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A fire at a San Diego residential hotel has injured seven people — including some who jumped from a window to escape the flames — and left 14 homeless.
The blaze erupted at 2:45 a.m. Monday at the Hotel Heritage on 9th Avenue. It was knocked down within an hour.
City fire spokesman Maurice Luque tells U-T San Diego that seven people were injured, including three who jumped from a second-story window.
Firefighters with ladders rescued 10 other people who were about to jump.
Four victims suffered smoke inhalation while the jumpers had sprains and possible broken bones. One person was listed in serious condition.
Luque says the three-story hotel suffered $1.3 million in damage and may be a total loss.
The cause is listed as accidental.
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Information from: U-T San Diego, http://www.utsandiego.com
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.