A fire in a rural home built in the 1800s on Redwood Retreat
Road in west Gilroy wiped out the house’s living room roof on
Christmas Eve early Thursday morning. No injuries were
reported.
A fire in a rural home built in the 1800s on Redwood Retreat Road in west Gilroy wiped out the house’s living room roof on Christmas Eve early Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.
About 12:30 a.m. Redwood Retreat Road roommates Mary Cortani and Nicole Martinez were snug in their beds when the blast of the smoke detector startled them awake. The fire smoldering in the self-contained stove fireplace insert to keep them warm had escaped, crawled up the walls and ignited the attic. Both women were unharmed and managed to save their pets from the blaze as well.
Firefighters responded to the blaze at 5165 Redwood Retreat with four engines and two water tenders from Gilroy, South Santa Clara County and Pajaro Valley, said engineer paramedic Colin Malone with the South Santa Clara Fire District/Cal Fire. Though they have not officially determined the cause of the fire, they strongly suspect the fireplace.
Thursday morning, the culprit stove stood against the charred wall, surrounded by exposed wooden beams where wall panels had fallen off or been stripped away by firefighters working to contain the blaze. A campfire smell still hung in the air. The fire destroyed the women’s living room, but firefighters managed to save the rest of the ranch home. The two women will be able to stay in their home while the living room is repaired. Although most of the furniture in the room had been burned, a small Christmas tree stood at attention in the corner, barely touched the fire. Sunlight and a cloudless sky could be seen through a large hole in the roof at least six feet long by six feet wide.
“What am I going to do?” Martinez repeated, responding to a question from an employee of her insurance company who was out taking measurements. “Start over I guess.”
Firefighters worked the blaze until about 5 a.m., Malone said. This time of year is especially busy for firefighters because of the high danger posed by Christmas trees and fireplaces, he said.
Nearly one-third of all home fires occur between December and February with roughly eight people dying in home fires every day because of the increased use of heating and cooking equipment, according to the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District.
“Especially now with it being so cold, it’s important to get your fireplaces cleaned,” Malone said. Chimneys become clogged and don’t allow for proper ventilation, he said.
Cortani said her fireplace had been cleaned, however. For 16 years, she used that fireplace insert to heat her house, she said. The old house was built back in the 1800s, she said. The women said they had friends and family in the area and that their homeowner’s insurance would pay for the damage.
“We’ll try to make it the best we can,” she said.
Firefighters responded to another fire at 1460 Knopf Court in Morgan Hill about 2:50 p.m. Wednesday. Like the Redwood Retreat fire, that blaze originated in the fireplace from a wood burning stove that was left unattended while the family wasn’t home, Malone said. No one was hurt.
