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A fire broke out on the morning of June 3 at a $155 million, 179-unit affordable housing project in North Fair Oaks, sending a thick cloud of smoke into the air and prompting firefighters to evacuate nearby homes. The blaze started on the fifth floor of the building, which has been under construction since June 2023 on a county-owned vacant parcel behind the county’s Fair Oaks Health Center.
The eight-alarm fire at the construction site on the 2700 block of Middlefield Road caused fire officials to ask nearby residents on Calvin, Dumbarton and Pacific avenues to evacuate after it went up in flames.
“We had a report of a fire on the fifth floor of an apartment building under construction around 10:15 a.m. Fire crews arrived on the scene to find smoke coming from the fifth floor,” said Mark Lorenzen, chief of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. ”
The project site where the fire occurred would have consisted of new apartments with one to three bedrooms, a childcare center and community open space. According to the developer and county’s plans, the building that was destroyed would also have contained a childcare center.
Once fire crews arrived, the fire was upgraded to a three-alarm fire and then quickly upgraded again to an eight-alarm fire. By 1 p.m., there were hundreds of firefighters, 26 fire engines and seven ladder trucks on the scene. An additional 10 mutual aid fire engines were sent from Santa Clara County.
“It looks like the building that the fire was in is likely going to be a total loss,” said Lorenzen. “Our goals right now are to prevent the spread of the fire to the east where there is another building under construction, and to the south where we have a neighborhood full of homes.
“Right now we’ve got quite a few little spot fires and are making sure that those don’t spread. Beyond that our goal right now is making sure that we don’t have any injuries,” he added.
According to the PG&E outage map, more than 1,500 customers were without power in North Fair Oaks. The outage was initiated at the request of the fire department out of an abundance of caution, according to PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian. As of 2:25 p.m., power was restored to all but 75 customers.
“There’s no fire walls in there that have been constructed yet. It’s just a tinderbox and the fire spread pretty quickly,” said Lorenzen.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District said that smoke from the Redwood City structure fire “may impact areas near and downwind of the construction facility” and advised residents to follow their local health officials.
Garfield Elementary dismissed students early due to concerns about smoke inhalation. Staff at Fair Oaks Health Center were evacuated and all appointments were scheduled. Students at Everest High School and Hoover Elementary School were ordered to shelter-in-place and instruction continued.
Smoke from the blaze spread south and affected air quality in several cities. Palo Alto issued an air quality advisory stating that smoke was drifting into the city and surrounding communities due to the fire.
“With the National Weather Service forecasting high heat tomorrow through Thursday, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District forecasts moderate air quality,” the statement from the city read.
High wind was also a concern for firefighters and residents in nearby cities.
According to the Atherton Police Department, due to the high winds, residents may have experienced embers or debris landing on their properties and urged community members to monitor their properties for possible impacts from the fire.
The Redwood City and Menlo Park fire departments were on the scene, and San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies were helping to evacuate residents from nearby homes on Pacific and Calvin avenues.
Caltrain services were also affected.
Lorenzen added, “We are now going into ‘salvage and overhaul’ mode where we put copious amounts of water on it and maybe get heavy equipment to clear stuff out.”
As of 11:18 a.m., the evacuation zone was widened by authorities. Residents in homes near Dumbarton Avenue and from the train tracks to Middlefield Road were also being asked to evacuate. All others were asked to avoid the area.
But by 2:45 p.m., Caltrain services were back up and running, the evacuation order had been downgraded to a warning, and some sheriff and fire resources were being released from the site.
By 5 p.m., the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said that most households were able to return home. Fire responders were working with the American Red Cross to connect displaced households to resources. The evacuation center was set to close at 6 p.m.
The Fair Oaks Community Center at 2600 Middlefield, while not in the evacuation zone, was closed to the public, according to a Redwood City Police Department news release. Childcare and senior program participants were being sent home out of an abundance of caution, according to the release.
The affordable housing project, which cost $155 million, was a collaboration between nonprofit developer Mercy Housing, the county, the state and private investors. Much of this was funded by the California Housing Accelerator Fund, which is managed by the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
The project is additionally funded by $30.5 million in loans from the county and Housing Authority of San Mateo County, almost $13 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, and $6.78 million from the Measure K half-cent sales tax, which supports local initiatives. The remainder of the funds came from private investors.
Arden Margulis contributed to this report.