Crime briefs

One person was rescued in a house fire on Skyline Boulevard in Woodside early Sunday morning, according to Cal Fire.

The fire was reported around 1 a.m. Dec. 27 at a two-story home in the 13000 block of Skyline Boulevard near County Road, according to Cal Fire spokesperson Cecile Juliette.

The blaze was reported by a tenant who lived in an attached unit to the main residence, Juliette said.

Crews found the first floor filled with smoke and set up a ladder to rescue a resident in their 60s, according to Juliette. The person was unable to evacuate due to the amount of smoke and flames in the home.

The person was taken by ambulance to a hospital with moderate injuries, she said. No other injuries were reported.

Just before 2 a.m., crews knocked down the blaze and stopped it from extending to nearby vegetation, according to Cal Fire.

The home was deemed uninhabitable as a result of the fire, Juliette said. The cause is under investigation and a damage estimate wasn't immediately available on Sunday morning. Additional information was unavailable as of Monday evening.

Firefighters were on scene for roughly three hours and 15 minutes, according to PulsePoint, an app that tracks emergency incidents.

The Kings Mountain Fire Department, Woodside Fire Protection District, San Mateo County Fire Department and San Mateo County Sheriff's Office also responded to the incident, according to Cal Fire.

—Jamey Padojino

East Palo Alto fire displaces 11

Eleven East Palo Alto residents, including four children, were displaced Dec. 24 after a fire damaged their Oakwood Avenue home.

None of the occupants were injured in the fire, which began on the first floor of the two-story residential building, according to a news release from Menlo Park Fire Protection District fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman. A neighbor saw smoke coming from the building at about 9:59 a.m. and called 911 before going to warn the residents, Schapelhouman said in the news release.

One of the adult residents reportedly tried to enter the room where there was smoke with a garden hose. When the air entered the room, the entire room erupted into fire, forcing him out of the building, Schapelhouman said.

Fire crews responded at 10:06 a.m. and deployed a hose line to directly attack the fire. They were able to control it by 10:36 a.m., according to Schapelhouman.

The cause of the fire is believed to be related to outdoor cooking. Schapelhouman noted that this was the second fire that the district responded to in two days that was caused by outdoor cooking. On Dec. 23, firefighters responded to a fire at Camper Restaurant in Menlo Park, where an employee brought a cardboard box with outdoor cooker ash inside, where it burst into flames and caused about $5,000 in damage to the restaurant's entryway.

Fire Marshal Jon Johnston had determined that the cause of the Dec. 24 fire in East Palo Alto was an active smoker or cooker directly placed against the wall of the building. The heat transmitted through the wall preheated the room and its combustible contents, according to the news release. He noted that the Oakwood Avenue home had heat and smoke damage throughout.

"Outdoor cooking appliances should not be too close to combustibles and/or buildings and any ash removal should be put into a metal can that is emerged in water before its disposal," Schapelhouman said in the news release. "Both of these fires were human error and accidental in nature."

Johnston estimated that the fire caused about $100,000 in damage to the structure, as well as a loss of $5,000 in building contents.

American Red Cross was contacted to assist the displaced families with finding temporary housing.

The family of Frida Velazquez, whose house was damaged by the fire, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the recovery effort. For more information or to donate, visit is.gd/fundraiser382.

—Gennady Sheyner