Sep 27, 2006

House destroyed in Berkeley Hills fire

Bay City News

A two-alarm fire in a heavily-wooded section of the Berkeley hills Tuesday morning totally destroyed a house and caused more than $1.3 million in damage, according to Berkeley Asst. Fire Chief David Orth.

Orth said the good news about the fire at 98 Avenida Drive, just below Grizzly Peak Boulevard, is that no one was injured and it occurred on a foggy and damp night, so it didn't spread.
"It would have been a different story" if the fire had occurred Friday night, when there were high fire danger warnings because of hot and windy conditions, Orth said.

The fire was reported around 3:30 a.m. and was controlled by 4 a.m., Orth said. He said firefighters surrounded the fire and put it out but couldn't save the house. The house was three stories tall but collapsed into one story, Orth said.

He estimated that there was $1.2 million in damage to the house and $150,000 to its contents.

A broken gas line leading to the home's water heater was to blame, according to fire officials.

Orth said one person was at home when the fire broke out but was able to escape without injury.

The fire caused some damage to the deck of a house next door at 100 Avenida Drive but didn't damage the house itself, Orth said.

A neighbor who lives several hundred yards below 98 Avenida Drive said sparks from the fire flew to his house but didn't cause any damage.

Firefighters closed the intersection of Avenida and Fairlawn Drive so that they could "deconstruct" the burned home and finish putting out the fire still burning inside, Orth said.

Orth said it's fortunate that most of the tall trees next to the home are redwoods, which are good at withstanding fires. But some of the trees are pine trees, which burn more quickly, he said.