Inconclusive report chronicles Casanova Plaza fire and investigation.

Following the three-alarm fire that ravaged the Casanova Plaza Apartments in Monterey, the Monterey Fire Department released a report on Thursday, March 26, documenting the incident that scorched the apartment complex early on March 9 and the subsequent investigation.

The report was authored by Monterey Fire Department Division Chief Justin Cooper, who reports arriving on the scene of the fire, 800 Casanova Ave., around 4:45am after obtaining investigative equipment from a fire administration building. 

Once on the scene, Cooper spoke with Assistant Fire Chief Greg Greenlee to learn about the situation and was assigned to conduct the investigation as multiple fire companies put out the fire and searched for and rescued residents. 

The report describes the apartment complex, a three-story apartment building of wood-frame construction, approximately 46,000 square feet, built in 1972 and currently managed by the Housing Authority of Monterey County. Casanova Plaza contains 86 one- and two-bedroom apartments, and each floor has a center hallway with stairwells and elevators at opposite ends of the building, which does not have an automatic fire sprinkler system. Sentry fire alarms were placed in common areas and each unit had a hard-wired smoke detector. Fire extinguishers were placed in cabinets in the hallways.

According to the report, all units of the building were occupied at the time of the fire and most residents were likely asleep when the fire began at approximately 3:40am.

At the onset of his investigation, Cooper interviewed several evacuated residents across the street from the blaze and collected contact information to follow up. He confirmed that the resident of apartment 311 placed the initial call to 9-1-1 before exiting the building. The occupant of 311 was ultimately taken to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Burn Unit with reported injuries, including possible burns, soot exposure and smoke inhalation.

The resident of unit 309 was rescued from their bed in the smoke- and fire-filled apartment by Fire Engineer Trevor Rackley and was also transported to the burn unit. The report states that the resident of 309, which the Weekly determined was a 95-year-old woman, died from her injuries, which included burns to the head and face, and soot and smoke inhalation, at approximately 12:38pm on March 9. 

Six other residents were transported to the hospital with minor injuries and the remaining displaced residents were later transported by a Monterey-Salinas Transit bus to the Hyatt Hotel in Monterey, with the American Red Cross providing emergency shelter and assistance.

When examining the building, Cooper was joined by Fire Inspector Joe Silva. The pair noted that the damage to the third floor and the collapsed roof in the midspan of the building were evident from the ground level, while some of the exterior was free of damage. Monterey Police deployed a drone to document the damage from above. 

Inside the building, Cooper found major water damage on the midspan of the first and second floors of the building sustained while crews battled the fire on the third floor. A fire alarm sub-panel in the building’s main entry indicated activation of the fire alarm on the third floor. 

Cooper then investigated apartments on the third floor, which sustained varying levels of damage with attic collapse and roof consumption in some units. In unit 311, determined to be the origin of the fire, the attic and roof assembly over the unit were consumed by the flames and the living room “showed near-total consumption of contents,” and “Remnants of a sofa metal frame and a stationary exercise bike were located toward the northeastern portion of the living room."

The report notes that a natural gas wall heater was present in the living room and was deformed and melted at its base. The investigator found multiple electrical components with lithium-ion batteries, glass fragments, and a waxy residue, consistent with the placement of a candle holder on top of the heater. The living room contained an electric, motorized recliner, and a “small pantry/closet located across from the kitchen showed significant fire damage in which a toaster-style oven was found.” 

Cooper states that the fire likely began in the living room and spread horizontally into the kitchen, pantry, bathroom and bedroom, and vertically into the common attic, where it spread further. When the resident fled, the door was left open, which facilitated the fire’s growth. Identified as the point of the fire’s origin, the living room was secured for further evidence collection. 

Because there were multiple potential causes of the fire and significant damage in 311, Cooper recommended that a certified forensic fire investigator determine the fire’s source, which he classified as undetermined for the moment.  

“Based on my training, education, and experience as a fire investigator, and following a comprehensive review of physical evidence such as fire patterns, burn damage, heat/soot deposition, char depth, loss of mass, ventilation effects, and fire spread pathways, the origin was determined to be the living room of Unit 311,” Cooper writes. “However, due to multiple plausible ignition sources within the area of origin, such as motorized recliner electrical components, battery power units, a candle holder, a gas wall heater, and the extent of fire damage obscuring critical evidence, the first item ignited, and the ignition sequence could not be conclusively established.” 

The estimated cost of the loss of the structure is roughly $3 million, with final loss values likely to change following a formal appraisal.