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Fire destroys another Aspesi Drive home
By Jeff Kearns
Santa Clara County Fire Department investigators say a pot left on the stove was the reason for a two-alarm blaze Oct. 23 that destroyed a home on Aspesi Drive. Department officials estimate the fire caused a total of $400,000 in damages.
Neighbor Cliff Leong, who lives next door to the house that burned, said the homeowners went out just before the fire started. The next thing he knew, there was a knock at the door. "These two kids drove up in their car and knocked on our door, telling me to call 911," Leong said. By then, just after 10 p.m. Saturday night, Leong says the house was already about 20 percent involved, and the fire was spreading quickly.
Santa Clara County Fire Department crews responded, calling the second alarm before the first engine arrived and sending a total of eight trucks to the scene.
"It was burning really good when we got here," said Battalion Chief Don Jarvis. "There was enough fire involvement that it wasn't safe for us to enter."
Jarvis said the roof was starting to collapse by the time the first firefighters reached the scene, and that the roof over the entire living area of the house eventually caved in, leaving only the roof over the garage standing. He said that was a good indication the fire had been burning for a long time before it was detected.
No other homes were threatened, Jarvis said, and the fire was brought under control at about 10:40 p.m.
One neighbor, standing on her lawn watching fire crews mop up the smoldering fire across the street, said she was waiting for the homeowners to return home so she could offer them a place to stay. The owners returned home just after 1 a.m.
Neighbors said the fire, at 18881 Aspesi Dr., was the third major fire on that street. Leong said the house on the other side of his, at 18867 Aspesi, burned in December 1990, and that another house down the block, which was still boarded up, was gutted by fire earlier this year. On top of that, Leong says the kitchen at 18880 Aspesi, across the street from his, also caught fire in the 1980s.
"It's kind of a sick feeling," he said.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
