Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

A firefighter rips smoldering shingles from the roof of the home at 302 Almendra Ave. in the early evening of Sept. 17.

New roof came just in the nick of time

By Clarence Cromwell

A fire that started in a living room chair burned through the attic of a Victorian house at 302 Almendra Ave. on Sept. 17, damaging a new roof completed just the day before. The cause of the fire is unknown.

Jodi Murphy said she was in the shower when she heard a smoke detector shrieking. She found a living room chair on fire and dialed 911. Fire dispatchers recorded the call at 6:22 p.m., and the first engine arrived three minutes later. Six engines and a ladder truck responded altogether and, of those, four engines carrying 26 firefighters snuffed the flames.

Joe Murphy, Jodi's father, arrived home just before the fire engines appeared and dragged the burning chair outside.

Santa Clara County Fire Department District Chief Frank Arnerich said fire spread into the attic because a speaker mounted in the ceiling directly over the chair allowed heat and smoke to pass through.

Firefighters used a chainsaw to cut through layers of sheetrock, plaster and lathe, and they shot a stream of water into the attic, said Capt. Mark Winters. Another hole was chainsawed through the brand-new shake roof to allow heat to escape. Arnerich said the fire was completely out by 6:42 p.m.

Investigators had not yet determined the cause of the fire at press time. The Murphys speculated that a lamp may have fallen onto the chair that burned.

The speaker hole caused the fire to spread faster--without the breach, the ceiling would have held back flames at least 30 minutes, Arnerich said. But the new roof averted catastrophe, he added.

The brand-new fire-resistant shake roof was completed the day before the fire, Joe Murphy said. It replaced an ordinary shake roof that had grown dry over the years.

"It kept the fire from burning over the top," Arnerich said, explaining that the flames probably would have spread through cracks to the outside if the old roof had still been in place, and would have quickly consumed the entire roof.

Fire officials had not yet learned the estimated value of damaged property as of press time. Damage to the roof was limited to one corner near the front of the building, but the house contained numerous antiques, according to friends of the Murphys. Firefighters used tarps to help protect the furniture from water damage.

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