Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by George Sakkestad A firefighter from the Central Fire District extinguishes flames in a burning garage, which housed a Range Rover. Car starts garage fire in hillside house Weak water pressure has caused concern by neighbors in past By Jeff Kearns Central Fire District crews responded to a two-alarm fire in the hills above Monte Sereno Nov. 3, and confined the fire to the garage area, where the homeowner's car apparently burst into flames. Homeowner Averill Mix was home at the time, when a man driving by alerted him to the blaze. Mix said he had returned home about 20 minutes before the fire started. "I didn't hear it," he said, standing in the street with his dog. "I put the car in the garage and went to bake a cake. I was oblivious to it until a construction worker who was driving by came and banged on the front door." The worker was not identified. Mix and his dog, Bo, were the only ones home at the time. Both escaped safely. Mix said the cause was most likely his sport-utility vehicle. "It smelled a little funny, kind of like burning oil." Neighbors phoned in the call at 11:01 a.m., and firefighters had the fire under control within about 20 minutes, District Chief Frank Arnerich said. As soon as the call came in, Arnerich upgraded the call to two alarms because of the large size of the homes in the area and the relatively weak water pressure. The home is located near the top of Matilija Drive, on a steep hillside in an unincorporated area of Santa Clara County. Neighbors said the fire highlighted the problem of the weak water supply in the area, which had been the topic of meetings with San Jose Water Company earlier this year. Debby Rice, who lives up the street, said some neighbors had considered forming an assessment district to pay for a better water supply to their homes. "There's 12 or 13 houses up the hill that are out of fire hydrant range," she said. She added that she hoped the fire would be an impetus for nieghbors to do something about the problem. Although the home is surrounded by large oak trees, Arnerich said he didn't think the fire presented any danger of starting a wildfire in the hills because the peak fire season had already ended. "Not at this time of year," he said about the danger. "Not with the temperature and humidity today, but if it was mid-summer, we would have been quite concerned and would have called in the California Department of Forestry." Outside of the attached garage, the rest of Mix's three-story home was not damaged. His golden retriever, however, failed to make the grade as a canine fire detector. "He's very sweet," Mix said, "but he's the world's worst watchdog." [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 11, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.