San Luis Obispo City Fire responded to reports of the fire at around 8:10 p.m., Monday.
Firefighters say the fire broke out on the 800 block of Boysen Road in San Luis Obispo.
Fire officials say the cause of the fire is due to plastic containers being left on top of an electric stove.
They say the single occupant was packing when he put the box of plastic containers on the stove and accidentally turned it on.
The man living in the apartment noticed the fire and immediately called for help.
"In the future I just hope that everybody out there pays attention when they are working around the stove, " says San Luis Obispo City Batallion Chief Neil Berryman. "In this case, he was just setting something down on the stove so always treat the stove as if it could be hot."
The fire was contained to the kitchen in the single apartment. No other apartments were damaged.
