Illegal bottle rockets were the likely cause of a fast-moving fire that torched the roofs of a Rohnert Park apartment complex and left 32 people homeless, officials said Tuesday.
"Everything was a tinderbox," Rohnert Park Public Safety Lt. John Marty said, describing Monday's blaze that consumed the wood shake roofs of two buildings at the Glenn Manor complex on Commerce Boulevard.
Damage to the pair of two-story buildings and their contents could reach $1 million, he said.
Firefighters were forced to retreat from the roof so quickly they left behind some gear that was destroyed, he said.
No residents were injured, and a Santa Rosa firefighter was treated at a hospital for possible heat exhaustion and released, Marty said.
On Tuesday, the buildings containing 12 apartments were red-tagged with signs that said, "Unsafe to occupy. Do not enter."
Charred beams were all that remained of the roofs of the second-story units, and many of the upper-level rooms were gutted by fire.
Tenant Dana Morey, who visited the scene Tuesday, said she expects to salvage little from her apartment.
"I'm going to say (I lost) everything," she said, including her cat, furniture, paintings and computers. "The kitchen looks like it's a disaster."
Andrew Morey, her son, said he hoped that his Xbox video game console survived "because I bought it with my own money."
The Moreys, who were not home when the fire broke out, bought new clothes on Tuesday at Walmart.
The blaze was reported in a flood of 911 calls at 4:37 p.m. Monday. Rohnert Park fire officials quickly upgraded the effort to a second alarm, bringing several more fire engines and firefighters from neighboring jurisdictions.
Marty, who manages Public Safety's Fire Division, said the initial investigation was completed Tuesday and cited bottle rockets as the likely cause because some were found near the burned buildings.
In addition, witnesses told investigators that "loud, explosive aerial fireworks and light flashes" were seen near the apartments and that flames erupted from the roofs, Marty said.
Investigators found "no other obvious ignition sources" for the fire, he said.
The blaze is considered accidental, Marty said, in the absence of witness reports that the fire was set intentionally.
David Santi, a representative of the apartment manager, said the fire was "certainly top-down. It looks like it started up top."
When she arrived Monday night, Dana Morey said bottle rockets were shooting into the air from an adjacent apartment complex.
"You could see them from here," she said.
Morey and her mother, Dianne Pierce of Cotati, said they want to press the city to ban legal fireworks.
However, Marty said that any fireworks that fly or are thrown through the air are illegal.
He said he cannot recall in more than 20 years with the city a fire caused by proper use of legal fireworks, which are sold in Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cloverdale and Petaluma and banned throughout the rest of the county.
The bottle rockets found at the scene are "definitely illegal," he said.
The Rohnert Park City Council, on a 3-2 vote in 2006, rejected a proposal to put a fireworks ban to a public vote.
Aging wood shake roofs like the ones at Glen Manor are "a known fire hazard" and are no longer allowed on new buildings, Marty said.
But there is no legal provision requiring that shake be replaced, he said.
Twelve families were displaced by the fire, officials said.
Residents of three apartments spent Monday night at a shelter and were placed in motels Tuesday, said Rodger Doncaster, director of disaster services for the American Red Cross of Sonoma and Mendocino counties
The Red Cross provided tenants with a total of about $5,000 for food, shelter and clothing, he said.
Tenant Amanda Hopkins said she was able to peer into her apartment from a nearby second-story unit. "Everything was gone," she said, adding that her bookshelves and DVDs appeared to have "evaporated."
Firefighters rescued a pet rabbit in a cage from her apartment's balcony and two caged rats from a bedroom, Hopkins said.
Her roommate, Victoria Ruiz, said the Red Cross gave them $300 for clothing. "That's really nice of them," Ruiz said.
The two are staying with Ruiz's mother.
Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call detectives at 584-2630.
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