GILROY
– Electrical wiring malfunctions sparked separate fires
destroying two Gilroy area homes Sunday night and Monday
afternoon.
The worst of the two fires broke out around 9 p.m. Sunday at
9287 Solana Drive in the city’s northwest quad. Flames engulfed
one-third of the single-story home and caused smoke and heat damage
to the rest before it was put out.
GILROY – Electrical wiring malfunctions sparked separate fires destroying two Gilroy area homes Sunday night and Monday afternoon.
The worst of the two fires broke out around 9 p.m. Sunday at 9287 Solana Drive in the city’s northwest quad. Flames engulfed one-third of the single-story home and caused smoke and heat damage to the rest before it was put out. The blaze took six engines and 30 firefighters from the Gilroy Fire Department and South Santa Clara County Fire more than an hour to contain.
No one was hurt in the fire, but the estimated damage to the house is $375,000, according to the Gilroy Fire Department.
“The home is almost a total loss,” said Capt. Gil Horta of the GFD.
A woman and her grown son, Joshua Treichel, living in the house, were both home at the time of the fire. The American Red Cross has put them up at a local hotel.
The fire started in the house’s garage when a bare electrical wire in a wall sparked and caught the wall on fire. The woman was doing laundry at the time and walked out to the garage, saw the flames and fled the house immediately to call 911, according to GFD reports.
“She did the right thing by getting everyone out of the house and not trying to put out the fire herself,” said Ed Bozzo, a special investigator with the GFD. “There’s nothing she could’ve done about the wiring – it just looks like one of those things that happens when the house is built.”
The second fire erupted at 2 p.m. Monday, causing an estimated $200,000 worth of damage to an 80-year-old farm house and essentially destroying the home, according to the CDF.
This fire took place northeast of the city at 930 Buena Vista Ave. just east of No Name Uno Avenue, closing a portion of Buena Vista Avenue for 45 minutes.
No one was injured in the blaze, but when California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters arrived on the scene at the home, they found a large portion of the single-story house covered in flames and a vehicle parked in front of the home, indicating people could be inside. When nobody responded to repeated knocks on the door by the CDF, firefighters burst into the home to find it empty.
“I saw people pulling over on the side of the road staring at something, so I went outside to see what they were looking at and I noticed the flames,” said Erasmo Alejo, who lives next door to the house that burned. “My mom called 911, but by that time it was already too late.”
Sixteen CDF and Gilroy firefighters arrived on the scene within 10 minutes and had the blaze contained in 30 minutes. An electrical power shortage started the fire, but it is still not known exactly how or where the shortage took place, according to the CDF. An electrical power shortage means that a power device using electricity caught fire.
The owner of the home arrived shortly after the fire was controlled, and declined comment. It is not known how many people were living in the home, but neighbors said a couple lived there who were school teachers and maintained a small prune orchard.
Capt. Clay Bentson of the GFD said the wet ground and mild air conditions might have kept the two structure fires from spreading.
