Fire-National_Nevada 8/22/2011

SANTA CRUZ -- A fire at a three-story house on the Westside left the home uninhabitable and caused more than $32,000 in damage Monday, an official said.

Firefighters responded about 11:35 a.m. to a report of smoke coming from the top floor of a house on the 100 block of National Street, said Santa Cruz Fire acting Battalion Chief Jason Hajduk.

The fire's source is under investigation but it apparently started in electrical wiring in a top-floor closet, Hajduk said.

A smoke detector alerted several people on lower floors to evacuate, Hajduk said. No one was injured.

Firefighters were unsure how many people rent rooms in the home but at least four people retrieved items once firefighters finished their work, Hajduk said.

After the blaze started, a water sprinkler on the top floor tripped. The spray did not hit the fire directly but helped stop its spread, firefighters said.

Hajduk said firefighters brought water hoses to the top floor and knocked down the fire within about 10 minutes. A crew also used a ladder truck to bring firefighters to the roof above the burned closet before cutting a hole in the roof to ventilate the fire and isolate it.

Electronics, clothes and other items burned. Firefighters also made sure the fire did not spread to other spaces in the house, but there was smoke and water damage estimated at $32,000, Hajduk said.

"We have to make sure there aren't hot spots because we don't want to go back to the same address twice," Hajduk said.

Utility workers cut power to the house and city building officials deemed it uninhabitable. The owner of the home lives nearby and arrived to assess the damage, Hajduk said.

Santa Cruz firefighters and UC Santa Cruz firefighters responded to the blaze. One man who lived at the house said he taught classes at UC Santa Cruz, firefighters said.

from the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Santa Cruz Sentinel
• santa cruz
• national st
• fire