Fire Nearly Ruins Alameda Home

Oakland Tribune
January 16, 2007

California - The three-alarm fire drew roughly 40 firefighters from Alameda and Oakland to the 2000 block of Clinton Avenue. Hundreds of neighbors, many of them off work for Martin Luther King Day, lined up to watch from nearby streets and sidewalks.
Alameda Fire Department Captain Daren Olson said one person sustained minor injuries and was taken to Alameda Hospital, just down the block on Clinton Avenue.

Olson did not have information about the nature of the injuries and could not say for certain whether a man who apparently owns the home was the one who received medical attention.

The cause of the fire remained unclear, Olson said.

"I have no idea," he said. "That's still under investigation at this time."

Witnesses reported seeing flames shoot up 10 to 15 feet above the roofline.

"This thing was cooking," said Patrick Bennett, 27, of Alameda.

Bennett said he and a friend were riding their bicycles nearby and followed one of the fire trucks to the scene.

As they watched firefighters attack the flames, some in the crowd snapped pictures with their digital cameras or cell phones. One woman sipped a bottle of beer. Smoke was visible from miles away.

Some people said they heard explosions after the fire started.

Melissa Bass, a hospital staffer in the X-ray department, said she was eating her lunch inside her car parked near the home, when she saw a man flee.

"I saw the guy running out of the house," Bass said. "By that time it was already in flames."

She said that about 10 minutes after she saw the fire, she heard a "boom."

"It wasn't that loud," she said. "It was just one big boom. ... You could probably hear it at the end of the block."

Carol Gerdes, who lives next door, identified the owner of the home as Darrell Hall.

She said she called 9-1-1 after seeing smoke and fire, then turned on her hose to help stop the flames from spreading.

Hall was outside the house, she said. The Fire Department said the home was unoccupied by the time they arrived.

"He was just not able to talk, period," Gerdes said of her neighbor, whom she's known for more than five years. "That's it."

Fire crews had the flames mostly contained after about an hour.

Officials did not have an estimate of how much damage was caused to the one-story home.

Olson said a rear portion was almost destroyed. The roof was ripped apart, windows broken and a garage door was beaten down to put the fire out.

"The interior is gutted," Olson said.

He said some areas inside had not actually burned, but were largely damaged by smoke or debris.

Written by Oakland Tribune