An early morning fire Wednesday, March 21 completely destroyed an Imperial Beach apartment. The fire started shortly after 5:00 a.m. at an 8 unit apartment complex in the 1100 block of 13th St.

When firefighters arrived on scene smoke and fire was coming out the back unit according to San Diego Fire Captain Mike Nizic “It was put out quickly and there were no injuries.

"The one bedroom unit had no smoke detectors so it was very fortunate that the residents were woken up. They were sleeping when another resident noticed heavy smoke coming from the kitchen.”

With the help of sheriff's deputies, the entire apartment building had to be evacuated including 14 children. Asked about San Diego firefighters who were overheard wondering why Imperial Beach firefighters weren’t assisting with their own fire. Captain Nizic quickly responded “Not true. Absolutely not true. We asked for a water line and they got water.

"We asked them to man a hose to protect the adjoining structure and they did.” The cause of the blaze is under investigation and an Imperial Beach firefighter acknowledged an inspector would be checking all the units in the building for working smoke detectors “This fire could have been worse off” he said.