HomeCity NewsFirefighters Battle Back-to-Back Blazes on Windsor Road

Firefighters Battle Back-to-Back Blazes on Windsor Road

Firefighters launch a ground offensive at 1718 Windsor Road as Fire Chief Mario Rueda, white hat, signals to incoming fire engines and Police Lt. Aaron Blondè, blue uniform, coordinates with Police Chief John Incontro. Kev Kurdoghlian Photo
Firefighters launch a ground offensive at 1718 Windsor Road as Fire Chief Mario Rueda, white hat, signals to incoming fire engines and Police Lt. Aaron Blondè, blue uniform, coordinates with Police Chief John Incontro. Kev Kurdoghlian Photo

The San Marino Fire Department, with assistance from the Verdugo Fire Communications Center, or VFCC—a mutual-aid coalition of 13 fire agencies in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys—battled two fires on Windsor Road Tuesday afternoon.

One fire immediately followed the other at two residences in the 1700 block of Windsor Road, between Huntington Drive and Roanoke Road, which San Marino police officers closed off to vehicle traffic.

At approximately 4:15 p.m.—just under five minutes after receiving a call from a neighbor—fire engines from San Marino, Pasadena and Alhambra responded to 1751 Windsor Road, where four tall cypress trees were engulfed in flames.

The four cypress trees, which were quickly reduced to charred trunks, sit adjacent to a detached garage at 1739 Windsor Road, which sustained roof damage from the fire. Firefighters were able to salvage a parked Ferrari which was inside the garage.

Firefighters noticed a second fire developing at 1718 Windsor Road during a regular walk-through of the neighborhood following the tree fire. No one was in the home at the time of the fire.

More engines from San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Alhambra arrived to aid in the second offensive, which was being directed by San Marino Fire Chief Mario Rueda.

The fire spread rapidly due largely to the home’s wood shake roof, but firefighters aggressively attacked the fire from every angle and extinguished it in 20 minutes as a group of 30 locals—including San Marino City Council Members Steven Huang and Steve Talt—looked on. Firefighters continued to shower the home for another hour to suppress small embers.

A majority of the roof was scorched by the end of the attack at approximately 7 p.m.

San Gabriel Firefighter/Paramedic Antonio Negrete, public information officer for the VFCC, said the cause of both fires is currently under investigation.

Though the VFCC has not made an official determination, investigators suspect a downed Southern California Edison power line may have set fire to the cypress trees, while burning embers from the trees likely traveled with a southwesterly breeze to 1718 Windsor Road. Edison is collaborating with VFCC investigators.

A total of 30 firefighters were on scene battling the two fires.

Two Alhambra firefighters were injured. One recieved treatment by San Marino paramedics for heat exhaustion. The other received treatment at Huntington Memorial Hospital for a head injury. Both are in good condition.

Between the three homes, structural damage is estimated between $1 million and $1.1 million, according to SMFD Deputy Chief Mark Phillips.

In March of this year, wooden roofs of two other homes, one on Gainsborough Road and another on Warwick Road, were engulfed by large fires within a week of each other.

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