Grandmother, child escape house fire | child, fire, grandmother ...

A grandparent and a young child escaped unhurt after the family?s single-story home became engulfed in flames Wednesday morning in the 900 block of North Woods Street in Porterville.

The fire is believed to have been started by a dryer in the garage of the home and quickly spread through the house the vents and attic.

Steve Larson, who lives across the street from the home, said he originally saw smoke through his front-room window. As he approached the window, he could hear the fire.

?I heard loud popping and crackling,? he said. ?There were flames coming out around the garage and the fire moved through the attic. It moved fast.?

Larson, who has lived across the street since the late 1970s, said he was watching the fire when he saw the roof cave in.

?I saw the whole roof fall in and land on the garage door, then the door fell and made a very large noise,? Larson said. ?I also heard a few very-loud pops, so they must have had some paint cans or something in there that caused those loud pops.?

As Larson talked, two women ran toward an elderly woman who was crying and watching the fire. Larson identified them as family members who live in the home.

Also watching from in front of the burning home was Carolyn Cave, who had been in the neighborhood visiting her mother, Catherine Fazio.

?I was standing in the driveway when I saw smoke,? Cave said. ?I called 9-1-1 and walked over but saw that the family had come out. I didn?t want to be in the way so I left.?

The original 9-1-1 call reported that there were two occupants inside, and could be heard screaming from within, the burning structure.

?We built all these homes along this side of the road,? Cave said, pointing to the homes directly in front of the affected house. ?It?s kind of funny. About five years ago, their daughter Amber was renting this house from us and their dryer caught that house on fire, too.?

Several neighbors indicated that they had called 9-1-1 to report the fire.

The Porterville Fire Department received its initial call for assistance at 9:59 a.m. said spokesperson Roberta McGuire.

?This was a county call but we have a mutual-aid agreement and were actually the first on the scene,? McGuire said.

According to Battalion Chief Ted Reese, PFD Station No. 1 was the first to arrive at the scene.

?Porterville City was the first in because of their location,? Reese said. ?They made an attack on the garage. It was fully engulfed. We got fire that had extended into the attic and we got that down.?

Reese also acknowledged that people had been in the home at the time of the fire.

?There were two occupants in the house when the fire started ? a grandmother and a child,? Reese said. ?They?ve gotten out and are down the street.?

In all, two Porterville and four Tulare County fire engines responded.

In addition, due to the amount of smoke and the number of fire personnel at the scene, the Lindsay Fire Department was called upon for additional breathing support and air tanks, said Reese.

The fire was contained and the cause of the fire is under investigation, Reese said.

According to Tulare County Fire Department Public Information Officer Claudia Whitendale, the investigator has reported that the two-car garage and its contents were destroyed. There is also damage to the attic, with the estimated loss placed between $75,000 and $100,000.

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045 or eavila@portervillerecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @Avila_recorder.

Source: http://www.recorderonline.com/news/child-51877-fire-grandmother.html

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