A fire that started in an outbuilding next to a house on 1340 Lakeview Drive in Felton was almost entirely contained by quick-acting neighbors with a garden hose today.
Neighbor Ron DiNapoli heard a series of loud pops coming from the home at the bottom of a long driveway and saw smoke coming from inside at about 2:30 p.m. p.m. today, Monday, Sept. 14.
“I had just gotten home from work and I heard crackling and a couple of loud pops and black smoke,” DiNapoli said. “That alarmed me and I called 9-1-1.”
DiNapoli ran down to the house, knocked on all the doors to see if anyone was home before he turned on a garden hose and begin dousing the blaze.
The hose broke, and another neighbor, Mark Martinez, grabbed the severed ends and held them together while DiNapoli continued to pour water onto the fire.
“We got it all out except one little hot-spot,” DiNapoli said.
The smoke thickened and the two neighbors backed off, allowing Felton Fire volunteers and Cal Fire crews to finish containing the fire that burned the inside of an outbuilding and part of the adjoining porch.
The firefighters said electricity flowing to the house caused the loud pops that DiNapoli heard. Fire crews turned the power off when they arrived.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
“We were protecting our neighborhood,” DiNapoli said. “It’s not a heroic thing – you would have done the same thing.”
