Windsor home destroyed by 2-alarm fire

Fire Wednesday destroyed a custom home in the Windsor foothills, started by a charcoal barbecue used earlier in the morning to grill a chicken, according to fire officials.

The 3,900-square-foot, split-level home was almost adjacent to Foothills Regional Park, raising firefighters’ concern for the fire’s potential to spread into the park’s extra-dry brush and oak woodlands.

When the roof on the huge house began collapsing with firefighters inside, Central Fire Battalion Chief Mark Dunn ordered them out and called for a second alarm for more help. Firefighters from at least eight agencies responded to the blaze in the upscale, hillside neighborhood.

The fire sent a huge plume of black smoke over east Windsor.

“This had a massive amount of potential, with its proximity to the park and the other structures in the area,” said Cyndi Foreman, inspector for Central Fire. “The crews did an amazing job keeping it to this structure.”

The Turnberry Court house was the home of Gina Barbosa, her husband and three teens. Fire officials initially incorrectly identified the family name as Barbados.

Flames had gutted the inside, walls were missing, windows blackened or blown out. The roof was mostly burned away and only charred boards remained of the back, two-story wooden deck where the fire started.

Two family cats were missing, Foreman said.

Standing on the edge of her property, a sobbing Gina Barbosa stood hugging her children and watching as firefighters worked. Nearby, lying on the ground, was a badly charred, framed family photo, which someone had retrieved from the home.

“We’re all alive,” Barbosa said gratefully, through her tears.

Barbosa said she had designed her family’s home, which was built in 2000.

A preliminary loss estimate was more than $1.1 million for the house and well-over $150,000 for contents, Foreman said.

While the cause of a fire can taken time to determine, this one was fast. Foreman said it was hot ashes or embers from a charcoal barbecue Barbosa had used earlier that morning.

When the chicken was cooked, she had closed down the kettle barbecue’s dampers, left the lid in place and headed for work at about 9:15 a.m. No one else was home.

“She was cautious and careful,” said Foreman, who also said Windsor’s fire code doesn’t allow charcoal barbecues on wooden decks. “We really discourage charcoal barbecues on or near combustible construction.”

The first 911 call came at 10:44 a.m. with a report from a neighbor of a fire on a back deck. That steamrolled into numerous calls reporting flames spreading up two-story deck and along the house, and as the smoke plume grew, worried callers from across town began dialing 911 to report what appeared to be a large fire.

A Windsor fire engine, from a nearby station, arrived within 4 minutes and found flames had spread into the attic, Dunn said.

Firefighters went inside and tried an aggressive attack but the fire quickly spread the length of the house.

“It ran the attic and roof and the roof started coming down,” Dunn said. “Initially they were making progress.”

With the burning roof collapsing, the effort moved outside and became defensive, meaning there was less chance to save some of the home. It took almost an hour to control the fire, and Dunn reported firefighters could switch from firefighting to mop up at 11:58 a.m., according to dispatch reports.

Numerous neighbors gathered along the outskirts of the firefighting activity, watching and expressing shock and sadness for the family.

“I’m just heartbroken she lost her home,” said next-door neighbor Lisa Bertolone.

Neighbor Jeff Knott said he’d been sitting at his kitchen table when the first fire engine went by. He’d assumed someone needed medical help, but then more engines roared into the neighborhood.

“They just kept coming and coming and coming,” said Bob Ratto, who also lives in the area.

Knott, his son Matt and Ratto stood together, watching the flurry of firefighting. Saying they have grave fears this fire season with their nearness to the dry hills and open space of the county park they were grateful firefighters had stopped the blaze.

“This thing could have caught and moved right into the foothills,” Jeff Knott said.

Knott said he also was shaken by his neighbors’ terrible loss of the home where their children were raised. He vowed to tackle any fire prevention steps needed at his own property and to dust off family evacuation plans.

“This brings it close to home,” Knott said. “It’s not just a story covered in the newspaper.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com or Twitter@rossmannreport.