A house on Riverside Road belonging to John and Tammy Freitas
was destroyed in a fire on Saturday, and while no one was injured,
five dogs were killed in the flames, family members said.
firefighters battling the blaze.
A house on Riverside Road belonging to John and Tammy Freitas was destroyed in a fire on Saturday, and while no one was injured, five dogs were killed in the flames, family members said.
More than a dozen firefighters from the Hollister Fire Department, CalFire and San Benito County Fire Department battled the blaze for more than four hours, spraying the structure with massive water hoses and chopping down walls with axes. In the end, however, the house was doomed and burned to the ground.
Hollister Fire Chief Fred Cheshire said his firefighters had arrived at the house around 4 p.m. to provide aid to the county department – which is investigating the cause of the fire – and that when they got there, the house already had been engulfed in flames and smoke.
Louis Freitas, John Freitas’ brother, said he came to the house as soon as he heard news of the fire to find his mother who lives in another home on the property, about 75 yards away.
“When I got there it was terrible,” Freitas said. “The entire house was completely engulfed in flames and you wouldn’t believe how fast it went up. Thank God no one was hurt.”
Freitas said the five dogs were trapped inside the house and were unable to escape the blaze.
“We found one of the dogs – a Jack Russell Terrier – the next day, digging through the house. He was trapped in his carrier,” he said.
