Santa Rosa fire at boarded-up home called 'suspicious,’ but cause undetermined

Yelling voices heard inside a vacant, boarded-up Santa Rosa home not long before flames and smoke appeared had fire and police investigators calling the house fire “suspicious.”

Without electric or gas hook-ups to the Dutton Meadow Drive home, the most likely cause would involve people, Santa Rosa fire Battalion Chief Ken Sebastiani said.

But extensive damage in the bedroom where the fire started had eliminated possible clues and fire investigators had to call the cause “undetermined,” said Scott Moon, Santa Rosa’s fire marshal.

Santa Rosa firefighters were called to the southwest Santa Rosa property at 9:23 p.m. and found the doors and windows covered in plywood, bolted to the building, Sebastiani said.

Neighbors told firefighters they’d heard yelling coming from the structure prior to the fire and firefighters used chain saws to cut through the front door so they could get in and search the building. No one was found.

Firefighters did find smoking materials and drug paraphernalia and other signs that people had been using the home, Moon said.

The 1,400-square-foot stucco and wood-roofed home was estimated at about 70 years old and hadn’t served as a residence for about two years. Firefighters saved about one-third of the structure and damage was estimated at $100,000.

One firefighter stepped through what officials thought was rotten flooring and his foot became caught and twisted. He was taken to Kaiser’s emergency room and found to have a sprained ankle, Sebastiani said.

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