Huge losses in Sharon Heights fire

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By Dave Boyce

A Sharon Heights fire Thursday night destroyed two townhouses and caused major damage to a third, according to Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

He estimated the loss at 15 Susan Gale Court, where the three townhouses are in one structure, at between $1 million and $1.5 million.

Firefighters battled the five-alarm fire for about two hours Thursday night.

The fire, reported at 5:11 p.m., was contained by around 7:15 p.m.

More than 50 firefighters, including crews from Redwood City, Woodside, Palo Alto and San Mateo, as well as Menlo Park, fought the blaze. A total of 17 engines, five ladder trucks and two breathing units were involved, supervised by six battalion chiefs.

The fire started in the middle unit of the structure, said Chief Schapelhouman. The fire spread through the walls from the center of the middle unit, and got in between the first and second floors of the middle unit, he said.

One firefighter was injured slightly, with a minor burn to his ear, the chief said.

A helicopter from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, in Los Gatos, equipped with water, flew over the area, looking for ember fires.

When you get an air unit, “for the fire district, that’s a big fire,” Chief Shapelhouman said.

Smoke could be seen for miles around. He said they were really lucky there was no wind.

When he arrived at the scene, he said, the fire was already well along, with the back walls of all three units already engulfed “from attic to patio.”

The townhouses range in size from 2,500 to 2,700 square feet, he said. The two on the ends are three levels, and the one in the middle is four levels.

Firefighters streamed water from fire hoses from the front, back and side of the burning structure to prevent the spread of embers. “A lot of water is going on this thing,” an observer said.

Around 5:30 p.m., witnesses reported seeing big flames shooting out of the roof, and heavy gray smoke rising out of the eaves. “This is a bad one,” said an observer. “It looks like the whole roof is going up.”

Some time after smoke began pouring out of the eaves, everybody was ordered off the roof. “We went defensive and pulled all crews out to fight the fire from the outside,” Chief Schapelhouman said.

“At some point, you’ve got to say ‘Uncle,’ and that’s what we did,” he said. “We said ‘Uncle.’ It was a great effort by everybody.”

Flying embers did cause spot fires on the roof of the house next door, but these were put out, the chief said. The same effect ignited a tree, but it was never a significant threat, he said.

A neighbor was seen hosing down his hedges and the roof of his house, but his house was not in the direction that the wind was blowing.

All the homes in the circle have wood shake roofs that are more than 20 years old, Fire Inspector Ron Keefer of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District said in an interview.

One of the three townhouses in the fire was equipped with a sprinkler system, but it didn’t go off as it should have, Chief Schapelhouman said. Sprinklers are essential elements in Menlo Park homes, he said.

When the fire is contained and the situation is under control, firefighters will go in with thermal imaging cameras to look for latent fires, the fire inspector said in an interview.

In a blaze like this one, it’s common for firefighters to be stationed on the scene all night to ensure the fire does not restart.

With five alarms, there were enough firefighters to fight the blaze in shifts. The fire also involved six battalion chiefs, with each one being responsible for a particular sector of the fire, Mr. Keefer said.

The battalion chiefs monitor the stamina of their crews and replace them with fresh crews from the staging area as necessary, Mr. Keefer said.

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