A firefighter was injured while putting out a fire at a home on
Donald Drive in Ridgemark that caused at least $50,000 damage
Friday evening, according to the California Department of
Forestry.
Hollister – A firefighter was injured while putting out a fire at a home on Donald Drive in Ridgemark that caused at least $50,000 damage Friday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry.
CDF Battalion Chief Don Lawler said a CDF firefighter out of the Bear Valley Station most likely broke his ankle when the shake roof of a house that was on fire collapsed underneath him.
The injured firefighter was on top of the roof, attempting to put out a fire that had started in the garage on the 100 block of Donald Drive. The fire severely damaged the garage, a car and caused major smoke damage throughout the rest of the house, Lawler said. He declined to identify the firefighter.
None of the residents were injured in the fire, and none of the surrounding homes sustained damage.
The fire started around 5:45pm. CDF and county firefighters contained the blaze to the garage in about 45 minutes. Firefighters didn’t know what started the fire.
The fire burned everything inside the garage and made its way up through the roof, but never fully engulfed it.
San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies evacuated the residents of the houses on either side of the burning home.
Eva Walker, who lives next door to the home, said she was sitting down to dinner when she heard a lot of commotion outside.
“I thought it was an ambulance since we’re all getting up there,” she said. “Then I saw the fire trucks.”
Walker said the woman who lives in the home, who’s name could not be confirmed by press time, is elderly.
Walker was never worried that the fire would threaten her home because fire personnel arrived and began putting out the fire soon after it started, she said.
The woman, who lives in the home with her adult son, has lived there for 25 years, said Dr. Clarence Hesse, who lives across the street.
“She’s not going to be able to live there for quite some time,” Hesse said. “All the neighbors around here have lived here for quite awhile. Anything like this bothers all of us.”
CDF will be investigating the cause of the fire.
Staff writer Erin Musgrave covers public safety. She can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
