Cigarette Smoker Phones 911, Helps Contain Blaze

A timely cigarette break helped firefighters quickly contain the blaze that gutted the Nail Salon 2000 on Redwood Road across from Trader Joe's.

Here's what happened.

At about 8 pm Wednesday the clerk on duty at Town & Country Liquor, also across from Trader Joe's, stepped outside to have a cigarette and noticed smoke coming from the nail parlor next door at 22265 Redwood Road.

According to liquor store owner Bal Bir, who related the story to Patch, the clerk immediately phoned 911.

Alameda County Fire Department Captain David Eaton said the initial call was followed by several others, and the event was treated as a single alarm blaze.

It took firefighters less than 15 minutes to put the fire out, he said.

The quick response pevented any damage to Town & County Liquor, which shares a wall with the nail salon.

Bir, the store owner, said the only impact on her family-owned establishment was an early shutdown Wednesday night, when firefighters turned off the electricity. Some smoke also drifted into her store, Bir said.

Captain Eaton said the cause of the blaze is still under investigation but preliminary indications suggest it was an electrical fire. 

On Thursday morning the salon's front window was sheathed in plywood and the inside of the store was wet and smoky, with a hole in the roof where firefighters came in from above.

The salon owner was not on hand Thursday.

Check out a video of the blaze scene.

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