Menlo Park: House fire kills two pets, causes major damage

A fire that broke out in a two-story home in the unit block of Robert S Drive in Menlo Park Friday afternoon (Oct. 5) claimed the lives of two family pets and caused damage that could exceed $2 million, according the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

Chief Harold Schapelhouman said some 21 fire personnel from Menlo Park, Woodside and Palo Alto fire agencies responded to the incident, reported by a gardener working nearby at 4:23 p.m. Friday. They brought the blaze under control at about 4:39, he said.

The homeowners were away at the time the fire started, but arrived home soon after the blaze was extinguished, Schapelhouman said in a written statement issued tonight.

Of the three family pets at the house when the fire broke out, two cats died of smoke inhalation, he said.

Firefighters responding to the scene reported that smoke and fire were visible to the rear of the house and that they would be forcing entry through the front door.

The fire was primarily in a large room that had 16-foot vaulted ceilings, Schapelhouman said.

The 5,000-square-foot house was built in 2005 in a neighborhood just south of Valparaiso Avenue, according to the fire district statement. “Roughly 1,500 square feet of the first floor of (the) structure was significantly damaged by the fire, with smoke and heat damage throughout the rest of the building,” the statement said.

Schapelhouman said in the statement: “The fire crews inside did a great job under difficult and dangerous conditions; they told us that this fire was so hot inside, that the wood stairway banisters and hand railings were on fire all the way up to the second floor of the building. We certainly don’t see that very often.

“We are estimating that the fire loss and damage could exceed $2 million dollars, based upon the amount of significant structural damage and destruction of major portions of the first floor.”

Fire investigators from the district located what they believed was the fire’s area of origin near a large flat-screen television and entertainment center, Schapelhouman said. The official cause of the fire is still under investigation.

A fire watch on the house will continue overnight, the chief said. No firefighters were injured during the incident.

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