Refrigerator fire sends large column of black smoke into air above Santa Rosa

A fire that started in an outdoor refrigerator Tuesday morning and spread to an enclosed patio on a Santa Rosa residential property and sent up a thick column of black smoke, fire officials said..

The Santa Rosa Fire Department responded about 6:30 a.m. to a report of a potential structure fire in a home in the 400 block of Hewett Street, Santa Rosa Division Chief Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said.

The agency received multiple calls reporting the black smoke, Lowenthal said.

Firefighters arrived in four minutes and found a large debris fire burning in the back of a single-story home and threatening to spread up the back wall to the attic vent, Santa Rosa Battalion Chief Matt Gloeckner said in a news release.

The residents had already evacuated the home.

Crews brought the flames under control within minutes, Lowenthal said.

The fire never spread into the main residence on the property. There were no reported injuries.

Several lanes of North Dutton Avenue were blocked for a period of time while firefighters extinguished flames, Gloeckner said.

The fire started after the refrigerator, which was plugged in and operating in a storage area near the home, experienced an electrical overload, Lowenthal said.

The fire caused about $10,000 in damage to the property.

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @madi.smals.