Fire investigators said a faulty water heater caused the fatal
blaze that killed a Hollister woman last week.
Following an intensive examination of the charred wreckage of a
trailer at 490 Bridgevale Road, investigators concluded that the
cause of Friday’s fire that killed Alice Acosta, 34, was the result
of an accident.
Fire investigators said a faulty water heater caused the fatal blaze that killed a Hollister woman last week.
Following an intensive examination of the charred wreckage of a trailer at 490 Bridgevale Road, investigators concluded that the cause of Friday’s fire that killed Alice Acosta, 34, was the result of an accident.
“A water heater connected to a propane tank and it malfunctioned, setting the room on fire,” said Curt Itson, battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry.
“This was a tragic accident. There are no signs of foul play,” Itson said.
Investigators are, however, still looking into the possibility that the water heater may have been installed incorrectly, contributing to the fire’s outbreak.
The San Benito County Coroner’s Office is expected to complete the autopsy on Acosta by this morning to determine the exact cause of death.
Depending on what medical examiners find, the cause of Acosta’s death could take up to another two weeks while examiners wait for the results of a toxicology test.
The test determines what types of drugs or chemicals, if any, were in Acosta’s system at the time of her death.
An investigation of the scene indicated that Acosta was most likely trapped by the flames in a corner of a wooden shelter added onto the end of an illegally located 16-foot trailer and had no way to reach the only exit, the coroner’s office said.
At 9:10 p.m. residents living in a number of illegally placed trailers on and around 490 Bridgevale called firefighters when they saw smoke and flames coming from Acosta’s trailer.
A total of 25 firefighters, three fire engines and one rescue unit from the San Benito County Fire Department and the Hollister Fire Department arrived on the scene to help extinguish the blaze.
Sheriff Curtis Hill said that although he was saddened by Acosta’s death, Friday’s incident was not the first time emergency crews have had to go to that address.
“We have had to respond to a number of incidents out there,” Hill said. “This was not our first time out there.”
Hill said the illegal housing units have unintentionally been a magnet for some of the county’s transient population and a site of drug use and other illegal activity.
“For a while there we had a guy operating an illegal junkyard,” Hill said.
“Don’t forget that probably not more than about 50 yards from there, we found the body of Eustevio Martinez.”
The body of Martinez, 44, was discovered Feb. 11 by a passerby near what appeared to be a makeshift campsite beneath the San Benito River Bridge.
Before that, Hill said there was also the report of a corpse found in a van that was illegally parked near the trailers.
