Fire officials declared their investigation into last week’s
house fire on the 500 block of Powell Street closed Monday,
although the cause of the blaze remains unknown.
Hollister – Fire officials declared their investigation into last week’s house fire on the 500 block of Powell Street closed Monday, although the cause of the blaze remains unknown.
After nearly a week of investigating, the Hollister Fire Department was able only to determine that the fire started in the front part of the house, in a northeast room that had been converted into a bedroom, according to Fire Capt. Tim Schneider.
“We try to follow a pattern that the fire makes,” he said. “And sometimes that leads us to a cigarette butt or electrical wiring – something like that – but it didn’t in this case.”
The fire started early Wednesday morning in the home of Helen Castro, her boyfriend Guadalupe Rodriguez and her two teenage children, shortly after 3am and quickly spread throughout the house. Three fire engines, one truck, an air unit and 13 firemen were required to quell the blaze, which was controlled in just over an hour.
While Castro and her children escaped the house without any serious injuries, Rodriguez was airlifted to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center to treat injuries sustained when he escaped through a bedroom window, as well as smoke inhalation. The two family dogs, a pit bull named Baby and a Labrador retriever named Moose, were killed in an effort to go back for the kids, Castro believes.
The family received food, clothing and shelter assistance from the Monterey/San Benito County Chapter of the American Red Cross, according to spokeswoman Laura Kershner. The Red Cross also provided them with emergency housing and will be providing linens, towels and possibly storage units until the family is able to determine what they want to do next, she said.
“It was a really devastating fire, they lost pretty much everything they had,” Kershner said. “Often, when this happens to people, some are able to bounce right back with a plan, but others need a lot of assistance. So we just have to wait and see what this family needs.”
The blaze melted roofing tiles on neighboring houses and caused more than $600,000 in damage to the home as well as the family’s personal property, although the front and back yards were almost completely unscathed.
The property has been fenced off to allow insurance companies to conduct their own investigation into the cause of the fire, and will remain that way for just under two months. Afterward, the property owner will have to decide what to do with house.
