Blaze damages 2-story SLO County home: ‘Fire coming out of every window’
A fire severely damaged a two-story Oceano home midday Monday.
The home, located on 22nd Street near Warner Street, caught fire at about 11 a.m., according to Five Cities Fire Authority Chief Steve Lieberman.
The person who called the fire department to report the blaze described “explosions” and “heavy smoke,” Lieberman said.
“When (the fire department) pulled up there was fire coming out of every window on both floors,” Lieberman said, and smoke could be seen from the street.
The resident of the home had already safely evacuated when firefighters arrived and was not injured, according to Lieberman.
The man’s dog died in the fire, Lieberman said.
After arriving on the scene, firefighters cut ventilation holes in the roof to help cool the house down and sprayed the home with the hose.
Eventually, fire crews ventured onto the second floor and attic of the home to battle flames there, Lieberman said.
The fire took “quite some time to extinguish,” Lieberman said.
The home is heavily damaged by smoke and fire, and is no longer inhabitable, Liberman said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to Lieberman.
According to Lieberman, the house that caught fire shares a lot with another home that wasn’t damaged in the blaze, he said.
“These homes are really close together in this part of town,” he said. “There was so much fire blowing out of the windows that we were afraid of adjacent homes catching fire.”
A section of 22nd Street was closed to traffic as of 1 p.m. Monday as firefighters mopped up the blaze.
Five Cities Fire Authority, Cal Fire and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office were among the agencies that responded to the scene.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 1:23 PM.
