2 people injured leaping from second story as fire burns SLO County apartments
Two people were injured when they were forced to jump from the second story of an apartment complex to escape a fast-moving fire that destroyed four units in Grover Beach on Tuesday morning.
Firefighters responded to the residential fire at around 9:27 a.m. after the Five Cities Fire Authority received a report of smoke rising from an apartment in the 900 block of 14th Street in Grover Beach, according to emergency services app PulsePoint.
Corey Clendenen, who lives in apartment complex, said the fire started in a ground floor unit before spreading upward.
Clendenen said he, his wife Jackie and other neighbors helped two women jump from the second story to safety after their way out of the building was cut off by flames.
Video shared by Jackie Clendenen showed multiple neighbors helping an older woman climb out of the second-floor window as flames engulfing the unit closed in.
“She wasn’t coming out her front door and I couldn’t get to it, so she got her purse and I told her to punch out her screen and go feet first,” Corey Clendenen said. “She came feet first and I caught her.”
The Clendenens said they heard screaming and immediately left their apartment to see how they could help. When they saw the flames from the building Corey Clendenen grabbed a fire extinguisher and helped catch occupants from the window.
Corey Clendenen said the two people who suffered non-life threatening injuries were the two who jumped from the window.
Jackie Clendenen also saw a firefighter giving CPR to a small dog. Five Cities Fire Chief Scott Hallett said the dog was in stable condition.
Grover Beach Police Department Commander Bryan Millard said one apartment was initially involved in the fire.
The two people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, but they weren’t considered serious, Millard said.
All residents were safely evacuated from the building, Millard said.
Multiple emergency response vehicles were dispatched to the scene of the fire, including five engines, a tanker and a handful of other vehicles.
Five Cities Fire Authority fire chief Scott Hallett said four of the five units that were involved in the fire were completely destroyed by the blaze, displacing eight to 10 residents of the apartment complex.
Hallett said the flames were fully extinguished by around 10:55 a.m.
Families displaced by the fire will be able to seek aid from the Red Cross, Hallett said.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 10:46 AM.
