GILROY
– The adjoining garages of a Rosanna Street duplex were engulfed
in flames Tuesday afternoon, sending a plume of gray smoke high
into the air and attracting onlookers from blocks around.
GILROY – The adjoining garages of a Rosanna Street duplex were engulfed in flames Tuesday afternoon, sending a plume of gray smoke high into the air and attracting onlookers from blocks around.
The fire consumed a late-model Toyota Camry in the garage at 7874 Rosanna St., the rented residence of the Costello family.
The fire began in the Costellos’ one-car garage and spread to the Medina family’s adjoining two-car garage.
All four Costello family members – parents Danny and Dora and children Candy, 20, and Angelo, 18 – were in the house when the blaze started. All escaped unhurt.
“We were just in the front room watching TV,” Danny Costello said while Gilroy firefighters doused his garage and car. “We don’t know how it started.”
“We saw a little smoke coming out of the garage, and then we opened the door,” Angelo Costello said.
“We saw flames coming through the door,” Candy Costello said.
The Gilroy Fire Department received multiple calls reporting the fire at 3:20 p.m. and arrived on scene at 3:23. Firefighters had it under control by 3:49 p.m.
Fire investigators worked into the night Tuesday but were unable to determine a cause.
“We found that it started in the garage, but the cause is undetermined,” Capt. Mark Ordaz said this morning.
They do not suspect arson, Ordaz said.
The Medinas’ garage was stocked with hundreds of illegal fireworks. While dousing the flames, firefighters pulled a large package of fireworks that do not meet California’s “safe and sane” criteria and are illegal to possess in the state, according to Rodger Maggio, the city’s deputy fire marshal.
“They are considered dangerous,” Maggio said. “The (fireworks) owner has been cooperative. … He was unaware that they were illegal.”
The man said he bought the fireworks from someone going door to door, Maggio said.
“We will be investigating that, too,” he added.
Possession of illegal fireworks is generally a misdemeanor crime, city police said at the scene.
Danny Costello was unwilling to speak at length about the blaze, but Candy and Angelo seemed unshaken.
“I think we can still live in the house,” Candy Costello said as she held her pet dog and watched the firefighters in action. “It’s just the garage.”
“We’re all right,” Angelo Costello said. “You never think it’s going to happen to you.”
There were boxes of compact discs and other things in the garage, but “nothing valuable,” he said.
The family has no insurance to cover their possessions, Candy Costello said.
The house’s owner, Steve Stewart of San Juan Bautista, had fire insurance, Ordaz said.
Ordaz estimated the damage at $50,000. In addition to the garages, both homes had smoke damage, he said.
