A fire engulfed second-floor residential units above a Mission Beach ice cream shop at dawn Tuesday, injuring two people — one seriously — while causing an estimated $600,000 worth of property losses.
The blaze erupted for unknown reasons about 6:50 a.m. in a rooftop storage area on the mixed-use building in the 700 block of Ventura Place, near Belmont Park, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
A city lifeguard at the nearby beach spotted the smoke and flames, ran over to the burning two-story building and knocked on residents’ doors, awakening them and telling them to evacuate, said SDFRD spokeswoman Monica Munoz.
Medics took a seriously injured resident to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. Television news crews captured footage of emergency personnel performing CPR on the stricken man while rolling him to an ambulance in a stretcher.
It took firefighters about a half-hour to extinguish the flames.