FILE: A San Rafael apartment fire in August 2025. Fire officials say loud smoke alarms and quick access for responders can help contain fires before they spread. (Ruth Dusseault/Bay City News)

Approximately 55 to 60 people are expected to seek emergency services following a devastating fire that broke out in the pre-dawn hours Thursday at a three-story apartment building in San Rafael.

The fire at 516 Canal St. was brought under control within an hour, but 19 units were destroyed. At least eight people were injured, including one who was hospitalized in stable condition. Two individuals remain missing.

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Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.