Fire damages home in Russian River hills

A middle-of-the-night fire partially burned a two-story hillside home early Tuesday in the Russian River community of Hacienda, according to fire officials.

Several people called 911 starting at 1:33 a.m. to report the blaze, and Forestville firefighters arriving at the McPeak Road and Sunnyside Avenue area found flames coming from both floors of the home.

The fire started in a back room, which was destroyed. The home’s contents suffered fire, smoke and water damage and were considered a total loss, but much of the 2,200-square-foot residence remained intact and salvageable, Forestville Assistant Fire Chief Dave Franceschi said Tuesday.

Franceschi said a damage estimate still was being calculated, but he believed it could cost several hundred thousand dollars to replace all of the contents and rebuild part of the home.

Firefighters put out the flames before the blaze could spread beyond the house.

Inspectors looking for what might have sparked the fire noted a heat lamp keeping baby chicks warm in the room could be to blame. The chicks died in the fire.

The residents, a couple, were awakened by a smoke detector. The man tried to put out the flames but couldn’t and they got out safely, Franceschi said.

The first engine, from the Forestville station, arrived in seven minutes. Firefighters from Graton, Russian River and Cal Fire and water trucks from Cazadero and Windsor aided the effort.

The home was on a hillside, off a narrow road. Engineers driving the huge vehicles had to maneuver carefully up the hill and around switchbacks.

Neighbor Jackie Hardman said she and her husband were alerted by neighbors who aimed the bright beam of a flashlight through a window and yelled “Jackie, Matt, fire on the ridge! Fire on the ridge!”?Awake and wanting to see what was happening, residents walked to an area for a better view down the ridge. “About 12 of us watched the fire explode in flames,” said Hardman, who acknowledged the year’s extra-dry hillsides from the drought and praised firefighters for keeping the fire from spreading.

The Hacienda area is at the junction of Westside and River roads.

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