Blaze heavily damages two Sonoma garages

Cause still under investigation|

A fire of undetermined cause heavily damaged two garages in the 500 block of Este Madera Lane in Sonoma Tuesday afternoon. The blaze quickly went to a second alarm.

There were no injuries, although property damage was estimated at $40,000 at one house and $30,000 at the other.

The blaze, which apparently started in the outside wall of the garage at one of the houses, quickly involved the wall and a small tree at the corner of the lot. An electrical breaker box on the outside of the garage, some garden tools and a shopping cart were damaged by the blaze.

Battalion Chief Spencer Andreis, with Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue, said the fire apparently started outside one of the garages and then spread to the structure.

“At this point,” Andreis said Wednesday, “the cause is still under investigation.”

The fire damage was contained to the two garages. Andreis said the houses were spared as 27 firefighters from five departments had the blaze under control in about a half hour. In addition to Sonoma Valley, firefighters from Schell-Vista, Glen Ellen, Kenwood and CalFire responded.

While the houses were spared, Andreis said neither had electricity since the blaze burned the electrical breaker boxes.

A man heard the crackling of the fire and went to investigate. He told fire investigators on the scene that he saw a plastic bucket melting inside the garage, and rather than open the door to find out how big the fire was he left through the front door instead. He grabbed a garden hose and set about dousing the garage and house to prevent the spread of fire.

The fire spread to the roof of the adjacent residence. Firefighters climbed to the roof and doused the fire before it could spread.

Once the fire was contained, firefighters pulled off the singed fiberglass insulation from the side of the garage, set up a fan to clear the room of smoke, and made sure there were no lingering hot spots.

Andreis said firefighters were on the scene until about 4 p.m.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.