Crime & Safety

Neighbor Alerts Family to Burning Home This Morning

Flames caused $200,000 worth of damage to a Vallejo home.

By Bay City News Service        

A neighbor returning home from work early this morning woke up a sleeping family whose home was on fire, a Vallejo Fire Department battalion chief said.

The two-alarm fire at 132 Roundhill Court, just east of Interstate Highway 80, was reported by patrolling Vallejo police Officer Stan Eng at 2:53 a.m., Battalion Chief Mike Brooks said.

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Eng saw the flames from a distance and did not know the exact location of the blaze, but neighbors who called 911 gave dispatchers the address, Brooks said.

Brooks said a woman who lives near the home that burned knocked on the door and alerted the family to the blaze.

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Half of the roof on the tri-level, 3,000-square-foot home had collapsed before firefighters arrived, and the fire was threatening two adjacent homes, Brooks said.

The fire was controlled by 22 firefighters in about 45 minutes, Brooks said.

The firefighters prevented the other homes from catching fire, but the home where the fire started was destroyed. Brooks said the damage estimate is at least $200,000.

Cora Cruz, who lives across the street with her husband Winston, said she smelled smoke while she was watching TV and looked out her window. She said the home's roof was engulfed in flames that were five or six feet high.

"I was so scared. All of a sudden there was all this smoke," she said.

Cruz said the house is occupied by a man, his wife, and a grown daughter.

Brooks said there was some ammunition in the house that exploded during the fire. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Fire investigators are also still determining if there were working smoke detectors in the home.


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