Hollister
– One day after Thanksgiving, a Hollister family was put out on
the street and one member sent to the hospital when a fire
destroyed their home and many of their belongings.
Martha Ortiz said her grandmother had just dropped her off at
work a little after 9am Friday when she got a phone call that her
house was on fire.
Hollister – One day after Thanksgiving, a Hollister family was put out on the street and one member sent to the hospital when a fire destroyed their home and many of their belongings.
Martha Ortiz said her grandmother had just dropped her off at work a little after 9am Friday when she got a phone call that her house was on fire.
By the time she returned, her home of three years at 196 Locust Avenue was filled with smoke and almost everything she owned was damaged. Her brother and uncle were inside when the fire started and were not injured. Her grandmother, however, was taken to the hospital because she inhaled too much smoke, Ortiz said.
Her grandmother attempted to put out the fire with a garden hose before suffering from minor smoke inhalation, according to firefighters.
“All my clothes are gone, pictures on the walls – pretty much all I’m left with is what I’m wearing except two or three outfits,” Ortiz said. “We’re out of a home, so basically we’re out on the street.”
Ortiz said she plans on staying with friends in King City, but her grandmother, brother and uncle will most likely stay in town with relatives.
Hollister Fire Capt. Fred Cheshire said the cause of the fire is undetermined because firefighters had to remove much of the family’s belongings just to get to the back bedroom, where the fire started.
“I believe we may have removed any indicators that would have showed what it (the cause) was, but there was no way we were going to get to (the center of the fire) without removing those items,” Cheshire said.
The fire was contained to the back bedroom but there was about $5,500 worth of damage throughout the house, he said.
Twelve firefighters worked on the fire for almost an hour until they had it under control, Cheshire said.
“The fire was smoldering in fabrics and putting off an extremely large amount of black smoke,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many clothes come out of one particular room.”
Ortiz said she believes the fire started from an electrical short in the back room because the electrical wires were not properly connected.
She said her electricity was spliced into the electricity of the house next to hers, which her aunt lives in. Her aunt paid both house’s PG&E bills, and in return the landlord decreased her rent, Ortiz said.
Her landlord, Carlos Hernandez, said he had three houses in that area remodeled in 1993, but PG&E only put in two electrical meters.
“They said they would hook up the meter but they haven’t done that,” Hernandez said. “I gave a rent break to cover for the other one, and it was agreeable (between the tenants).”
Hernandez said he believed everything was up to code and that the electricity was not the cause of the fire.
“The electricity was done right. I know it’s been OK for years,” he said. “The kid (Ortiz’s brother) liked to muck around with wires and electrical things in the back room.”
However, the city’s code enforcement officer, Mike Chambless, evacuated the house and deemed it unsafe to occupy until the electrical issue is taken care of, Cheshire said.
“There wasn’t so much damage that you wouldn’t be able to rebuild it, but I’m not positive if the building was up to code,” he said.
