Neighbor helps Turlock woman escape apartment fire

TURLOCK -- A moderate apartment fire could have been much worse if a neighbor had not woken the sleeping resident inside.

The fire started about 10:20 a.m. at an apartment complex at 3420 Rochester Court, according to the Turlock Fire Department.

A woman in a second-story apartment was asleep when burning logs from her fireplace rolled out onto the floor and burned into the crawl space between the first and second floors.

Her smoke detector was not functioning, but smoke seeped into the downstairs apartment, alerting her neighbor. The woman downstairs called 911 and woke her neighbor. They got out safely.

Turlock firefighters had the fire under control in about 30 minutes. They spent two hours checking for fire in the attic, chimney and other areas of the crawl space.

The fire caused about $7,500 in damage, but both residents were able to stay in their apartments.