Arson suspected in Geyserville house fire (w/video)

A Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy arrived at a Geyserville home Tuesday morning to serve an eviction notice and within moments found flames spewing from the Victorian farmhouse, which was gutted by the fire.

A sheriff’s official said the timing of the blaze was suspicious - with two men in a pickup seen leaving the home just before flames erupted. Sheriff’s detectives are conducting an arson investigation, said Sgt. Cecile Focha, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

Long-term renters had been given notice they were being evicted. Tuesday reportedly was their final day at the home. The deputy, who was meeting a locksmith, was there to make sure no one remained.

Just before the deputy arrived, two men in a newer, dark green, extended cab pickup were seen leaving the property, Focha said.

The deputy radioed dispatch at 8:39 a.m. to report a fully engulfed house fire. The call resulted in seven fire departments and an ambulance being dispatched to the home.

Geyserville Fire Chief Marshal Turbeville said he believed the home was about 100 years old and was the oldest in that stretch of rural Geyserville. The home, painted off-white with blue trim, sat at the crossroads of Healdsburg Avenue and Lytton Springs Road.

A large column of dark smoke rose high into the clear morning sky south of Geyserville, easily visible from nearby Highway 101.

Engines arrived within five minutes of being dispatched, and firefighters found extensive flames in an upper corner of the ramshackle home and thick smoke within.

It wasn’t clear whether anyone was inside, but initially it was too dangerous to search, according to sheriff’s and fire officials. A later search turned up no sign of anyone having been caught inside, Turbeville said.

The owner of the home arrived during the firefighting effort and told deputies an eviction notice had been posted at the rental property three days ago, Focha said.

Focha declined to release the owner’s name, but property records show the house is owned by Trentadue Family Properties LLC, owner of Trentadue Winery, which is just north of the burned home.

Geyserville, Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Cal Fire and Dry Creek Rancheria fire agencies responded, as well as sheriff’s officials and an arson detective and a CHP officer. Firefighters closed Healdsburg Avenue for all of the fire engines and water trucks. Rincon Valley and Windsor firefighters headed north to staff fire stations emptied by the responding agencies.

Turbeville said firefighters found nothing suspicious during their efforts and that the arson suspicion was based on what the deputy found. While the shell of the home remained standing hours after the fire, the house was destroyed. The chief gave a preliminary loss estimate of $250,000.

Complications in the firefighting effort by more than two dozen firefighters included a fallen power line near the front porch and that the old home had numerous small rooms and lacked any modern fire-restrictive advantages.

Turbeville, who supervised the firefighters, had them aggressively working inside the burning home, trying to salvage areas. But he called firefighters out when the flames became too extensive and the roof began collapsing. Firefighters then worked from outside, dousing the fire and keeping it from spreading to homes on either side.

Neighbor Alice Marshall, whose home borders one side, said she and her husband were at work but were alerted by a neighbor to the fire. Alice Marshall returned home to check on their dogs and make sure the house was all right. She found no damage to their property and the dogs were safe, but unhappy about the activity next door.

“I’m glad nobody was hurt and our house is OK,” she said.

The Marshalls have lived there since 1999. The family in the nearby rental home had been there perhaps as long as 30 or so years, fire officials said.

Neighbors were aware of the pending eviction. Marshall said the rental house has been busy with comings and goings over the years but that she and her husband didn’t know the residents.

The homeowners, reached later at the fire scene, declined to comment.