The resident whose home was severely damaged by fire Wednesday
afternoon said he had no idea how it started but he believed it was
ignited outside.
”
I didn’t have anything on that would start this,
”
he told the Free Lance, shortly after his home caught on
fire.
”
I think it started outside.
”
The resident whose home was severely damaged by fire Wednesday afternoon said he had no idea how it started but he believed it was ignited outside.
“I didn’t have anything on that would start this,” he told the Free Lance, shortly after his home caught on fire. “I think it started outside.”
Flames engulfed a house on the corner of C Street and Morey Circle on Wednesday afternoon in a blaze that is believed to have started outside the home. Only one house was damaged, and nobody was hurt.
Firefighters had to work around a malfunctioning hydrant – which caused an added delay – to put down the fire.
The resident, Eric Snyder, awoke from a nap and was on the phone when he saw two people spraying a fire with a garden hose in his backyard, he said. He also heard “crackling” outside, he said.
The two people, Brandon Maravilla and Rich Mendoza, said they ran over when they saw smoke bellowing from the backyard.
According to Fire Chief Fred Cheshire, it started outside and quickly caught the garage and attic on fire. By the time the fire was contained around 5 p.m., it had spread throughout the home.
Before firefighters arrived, it had spread through the vegetation in the backyard, eventually catching the fence on fire.
Maravilla said they kicked down the fence to prevent the neighboring house from catching on fire. The blaze was only a few feet away but it never jumped to the neighboring residence.
Prior to firefighters’ arrival, a group of four people, including an off-duty Hollister police officer, were trying to contain the fire to the one house.
Maravilla said it took the fire department 15 minutes or so to arrive after being called.
Snyder said he was “grateful” for neighbors that tried to stop the fire.
“I’m grateful they were trying to put water on it,” he said. “It was miraculous they got there but I’m thankful they were putting water on it.”
When the firefighters arrived, they quickly ran into problems when a hydrant on C Street malfunctioned, Cheshire said. The firefighters had hooked up an engine to the hydrant but it never worked.
To fix the problem, the firefighters had to connect the engines to a hydrant on the adjacent Line Street.
The delay cost the fire department around three minutes, Cheshire said. The department used two engines and a fire truck to help quell the fire.
As firefighters were containing the fire, neighbors stood outside with hoses trying to water down their house to prevent the flames from hitting their home.
Firefighters were called onto the scene at 4:13 p.m. It was contained by about 5 p.m.
The blaze was controlled soon after the firefighters cut a hole in the roof to help ventilate it. But by that time, it had spread throughout the house, destroying the roof and burning through the walls on the backside of the home.
The white garage door was charred black, and the fence along the house no longer remained.
Snyder strolled along the sidewalk across the street, visibly upset, as he watched the house burn. On the phone as the firefighters were battling the blaze, he called other family members – including his father, who owns the property – and they also arrived on scene.
