If you were traveling down the 5 and 55 interchange earlier today, you would have seen smoke in the near distance. If so, it was a residential fire in Stanton, where eight fire engines and two trucks were called to extinguish the fire. Luckily, no one was killed, but two occupants of the house were treated for smoke inhalation by paramedics.
Captain Marc Stone of the Orange County Fire Authority reported that the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the flames, smoke and water from the firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the fire caused substantial damage to the home. Both OCFA and the Anaheim Fire Department responded to the call this morning.The fire started before 10 a.m. this morning, and resident Monica Dgezits said that she was asleep inside the home when the fire broke out; her parents and brother were also in the house at that time. As reported by the Orange County Register, Dgezits recounted how the fire moved quickly through the house, and her family was unable to take the time to grab any belongings before escaping—not even their pets. A cat and chinchilla were left inside. Her brother was trapped in the back of the home by the fire, and was forced to escape via his bedroom window.
The only suspected cause of the fire at this point is that firefighters found high-powered electrical lines down in the backyard of the home. Even with all the rain we had this weekend, it’s very possible that the power lines caused this fire. It happens more often than you think: Downed power lines caused a fire in Reno at the weekend that destroyed 32 homes, sent 16 people to the hospital and is responsible for the death of one 74-year-old man.
There are so many ways that fire can affect your home, and it can happen at any time. There’s no information as of yet on whether or not the Stanton home had a fire alarm. We assume that they did not—Monica Dgezits did not mention waking to the sound of an alarm. Could they have saved some of their belongings if they’d had a smoke detector? It’s hard to say, but we think they could have, and possibly saved their family pets too. We are happy that no human lives were lost. Read our blog on Wednesday to find out what you should do when you realize there’s a fire burning in your home.
What do the Dgezits do now that their home has been rendered unlivable? They need to call a professional fire damage restoration company to help them deal with this tragedy. We can restore their home to the way it was before the fire happened, quickly and efficiently. We would do our best to help this family, and prevent their entire holiday season from being ruined. Don’t put your family in that situation: Call us right away on (877) 732-8471—we have trained technicians standing by.