On Thursday, July 1st, 2021, at approximately 7:05 pm, the Turlock Fire Department received a call of a working structure fire at The Vista Apartments located at 900 W Monte Vista Ave. The Turlock Fire Department’s Battalion 4, Engine 31, Squad 32, Engine 33, and Engine 34 were dispatched along with the Ceres Fire Department’s Battalion 3 and Engine 15, and the Turlock and Stanislaus State police departments.

Engine 33 arrived on scene a couple minutes later and crews found a small fire in a bedroom. The fire was quickly brought under control and extinguished. The investigation revealed that a candle caused the fire, after it spread from the candle to the surrounding contents and the wall. Crews remained on scene for an extended period of time to ventilate the building and check for possible extension.

The Turlock Rural Fire Protection District provided city coverage during the beginning of this incident but were later relieved by Ceres units after they were released from the scene. Turlock Irrigation District and Pacific Gas and Electric responded to the scene but were canceled upon their arrival due to the fire not spreading to any utilities.

Some residents said that they did not hear the fire alarm sound and only knew about the fire after smelling smoke or receiving text messages. The fire department says that the alarm did go off but not right away because the fire took a while to reach the smoke detector due to how small and slow growing it was. No injuries were reported.