Staff and neighbors on Fay Avenue carried, fed and sheltered 20 memory care residents after a fire forced an emergency evacuation at Revere La Jolla on Aug. 16.

The fire started around 4:40 p.m. when a chiller component on a floor-to-ceiling fish tank caught fire on the first floor of the facility at 7630 Fay Ave., according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. A staff member tried to extinguish it, but the blaze was too large. Black smoke filled the ground floor, Executive Director Risa Jester told the Union-Tribune.

All 20 Revere residents have some form of dementia. When the fire alarm triggered, the building's elevator shut down automatically. Staff carried residents, some in wheelchairs and others using walkers, down the back stairs to a designated evacuation spot outside.

Then the neighbors showed up.

Employees from The Lot, a movie theater across the street, brought chairs to the evacuation area. Gloria Serna, co-owner of The Flower Pot coffee shop, arrived with large jugs of lemonade and baked goods. Staff from the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center handed out water bottles. TLC Roasters pitched in. The American Red Cross came to ensure residents had adequate supplies.

Serna said The Flower Pot closed at 6 p.m. on Aug. 16 so evacuated residents could come inside to use the bathroom and take their medications. She told the Union-Tribune the heat that day drove the decision. "It was so hot out so we wanted to give them a safe haven and some cold drinks," Serna said.

Brigid Christianson, whose father has lived at Revere for four years, learned about the fire when she crossed Pearl Street and saw firetrucks. She watched the response unfold from the evacuation area. Christianson told the Union-Tribune that what stayed with her was not the fire itself but how fast La Jolla stepped in. "They just noticed that a vulnerable group of their neighbors needed help, and they just started helping," she said.

Smoke and water damage forced residents out of the building for two days. Four nearby memory care facilities took them in: Chateau La Jolla, ActivCare Mission Bay, White Sands La Jolla and The Cove at La Jolla.

Jester said she was proud of her staff, whose concern for residents outweighed concern for their own safety during the evacuation.

All 20 residents were cleared to return home on Aug. 18.