Bay City News Service
A smoky fire started by a candle caused some $50,000 damage to a home in Saratoga on Jan. 2.
Public Information Officer Bill Hardwicke of the Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District said firefighters were called to 12099 Carol Lane around 5:35 p.m. When they arrived, they found the house filled with smoke and a bedroom fire in progress that had evidently been caused by a burning candle left unattended.
Crews extinguished the blaze immediately, but took around 45 minutes to clear smoke from the home.
Hardwicke said a 20-year-old resident of the house had been staying there alone while his parents were out of town. The young man found the structure filled with smoke when he returned from a soccer game and attempted to put the fire out himself before calling for help.
The resident was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation but was released "immediately," Hardwicke said.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, January 10, 1996.
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