The Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District has determined that a buildup of flammable deposits inside a chimney was responsible for the three-alarm fire that destroyed the Hicks Road home of Los Gatans Dustin and Josie Baker and their three children Feb. 16.
Creosote--a dark, oily, tar-like deposit from wood smoke--had accumulated in the walls of the chimney. With a fire in the fireplace, burning embers then spread to the 4,500-square-foot house's roof and attic, according to fire captain Jim Swanson, one of the Central Fire District personnel who investigated the fire.
Fire investigators attribute part of the fire's fast spread to the fact that the house's roof consisted of wood shake shingles--among the most flammable types of roofing material. Shingles or tiles made of fiberglass, cement or metal are safer choices.
Another problem in fighting the fire was the distance to the nearest fire hydrant, which was more than 2,000 feet down the hillside. More than 50 firefighters, including some from San Jose and Saratoga, fought the blaze.
Dustin Baker is vice president of operations for Challenger Schools, a group of private preschools and elementaries his mother founded in the mid-1960s. Last year, Baker had asked the town of Los Gatos for a permit to build another Challenger school on the lower portion of his property. In denying his request, the Town Council cited neighbors' concerns about fire danger in that hilly, rural area as well as traffic congestion problems.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 26, 1997.
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