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Firefighters controlled a two-alarm blaze at a ranch-style home in Atherton Tuesday afternoon, but not before flames destroyed it.
A passerby saw flames shooting from the home at 1 Odell Place and stopped at a nearby store to report the fire at 12:57 p.m., Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Herald Schapelhouman said. Fire crews arrived three minutes later and the fire was controlled at 1:45 p.m.
The owner was away at the time of the fire and has since been notified, Chief Schapelhouman said.
Firefighters from Menlo Park, Woodside and Redwood City fought the blaze that engulfed the 3,200-square-foot, 1920s-style home. Thick smoke from the fire blanketed the grounds and obscured traffic at El Camino Real and Atherton Avenue, which was temporarily closed.
The fire required services of 10 engines, four battalion chiefs, two ladder trucks, a breathing support unit, and three fire investigators, Chief Schapelhouman said.
The home’s roof was made of heavy wood shingles, an inch in thickness, which Chief Shapelhouman said produces “quite a fuel load.”
“This style of home wouldn’t be built today because of the fire danger,” he said. “Fire runs through the hidden spaces above the rooms and causes a lot of problems.”
Preliminary damage estimates indicate a 100 percent loss. “There’s significant interior damage,” he said.
— Report by David Boyce of the Almanac and Bay City News Service.
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A firefighter extracts a curtain and curtain rod from a one-story house on Odell Place in Atherton. The house caught fire Sept. 25 while the owner was away, said Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. Water and smoke damaged 50 percent of the 3,200-square-foot house, with flames ravaging the other 50 percent plus 100 percent of the attic, Chief Schapelhouman said.
Almanac photo by David Boyce. -
With the attic fire extinguished, firefighters from Menlo Park, Woodside and Redwood City concentrated on putting out the hidden fires under the shingles by soaking and pulling down suspect wood rafters. Thick smoke from the fire blanketed the grounds on Odell Place and obscured traffic at El Camino Real and Atherton Avenue, said Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. - Almanac photo by David Boyce.
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Daylight shines through the roof in the aftermath of this attic fire. Since the attic burned, firefighters had to chop holes in the roof to get at it. The fire, which took 45 minutes to contain, was reported at 12:48 p.m. Sept. 25, by a passerby who used a landline to call 911 from a nearby store, said Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. - Almanac photo by David Boyce.
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With smoke still drifting out from under the shingles, this firefighter pried them up with a shovel in a search for hidden fires. The two-alarm fire required the services of 10 engines, four battalion chiefs, two ladder trucks, a breathing support unit, and three fire investigators, said Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. - Almanac photo by David Boyce.
