Christmas Eve fire leaves 17 homeless

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 27, 2006 | by Michael Manekin

SAN CARLOS -- After battling a two-alarm blaze that gutted a two- bedroom apartment and left a San Carlos family of six homeless on Christmas Eve, the Belmont-San Carlos and Redwood City fire departments joined forces to rescue Christmas -- donating a mountain of toys and $1,500 in cash.

"We don't typically do this kind of thing," said Belmont-San Carlos Battalion Chief Gary Fauth, who credits the charitable notion to Captain Steve Whitmarsh.

"We were driving back from the fire, and he said, 'You know what? It's Christmas Eve. We're going to our nice homes and to our families and everybody's going to open their presents, and this poor family has lost everything.'"

"I went around and guys basically emptied their wallets," said Fauth, adding that each child displaced by the firereceived their own personal bag of presents, including the coveted PlayStation 3.

The Christmas Eve blaze, which occurred at 1198 Laurel St., has temporarily rendered the six-unit apartment building uninhabitable and left at least 17 people homeless for now.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross is providing shelter at nearby motels for the victims, including the family of six.

The fire -- which was caused by "combustible material left next to the wall furnace," according to Fauth -- drew 32 firefighters who controlled it by 8:27 p.m., a mere 15 minutes after the blaze was reported.

"There was a lot of fire and a lot of heat in there, but the guys did a really, really good job," said Fauth.

According to Red Cross spokesman Chris Orman, the family of six was out of town when their apartment went up in flames. They returned later that evening and watched from the sidewalk as the firefighters tended to the badly damaged building.

"It's an unfortunate situation," said property manager George Demetrius, of Mid-Peninsula Management. "The main thing is that nobody got hurt."

The building suffered $200,000 in damages and its contents an additional

$165,000, according to Fauth.

Lanelle Duran-Peterson, whose ground-floor apartment was badly damaged by the upstairs blaze, didn't find out about the fire until she and her husband arrived Monday night after spending the holidays with family in Ventura County.

"It wasn't until we got home and were able to see what happened that we realized -- well, we have to find somewhere else to live," said Duran-Peterson.

"It could have been worse," she added. "The people directly above us, for lack of a better word, are f-----. I feel extremely bad for them."

"That's one thing that people don't realize about a fire," said Fauth. "When you have a fire that guts your residence you lose everything."

To donate to the Red Cross, call (650) 259-1750.

Staff writer Michael Manekin can be reached at (650) 348-4331 or by e-mail at mmanekin@sanmateocountytimes.com.