Fire guts home, damages another
By Eiji Yamashita
eyamashita@HanfordSentinel.com
(8 p.m. Wednesday)
A fire fueled by winds destroyed a home and damaged at least one other in southwest Hanford late this afternoon. No one was reported injured in the blaze at the intersection of Sparrow Drive and Oriole Street, which Hanford city fire officials said was reported shortly after 5 p.m.
"By the time we received the call and responded, it was fully engulfed," said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Lynch.
The fire puffed towering billows of black smoke into the sky, as bystanders gathered around the neighborhood. One neighbor was seen up on his roof with a hose wetting down the house in a hope to protect their property from the fire licking at their fence.
Firefighters were bringing the fire under control by 5:40 p.m., but the flames had spread to the next house apparently causing some damage.
"It¹s wind-driven," Lynch said at the scene. "The wind is blowing everywhere."
Little official information was available about the fire this evening, as fire officials continued to investigate the incident.
Residents of the house that was destroyed said they suspect flames from an unattended barbecue pit under the porch spread quickly into the roof and caused the fire.
"My daughter hit the barbecue, and the house caught on fire. Whatever happened, it was an accident," said David Randall, a renter of the house, adding that he would not have noticed the fire if he hadn't gone outside.
"I got the hose and tried to put out the fire, but it was too late. There was nothing else I could do, so I made sure everybody got out safe and let the fire go."
There were several accounts that ammunition was being discharged in the blaze. No evidence of foul play was reported by police or fire personnel on scene.
Randall said he kept 22mm shells in the garage because he does target shooting as a hobby.
Weeping in a wheelchair beside Randall was his wife Cindy.
"My whole house is gone. We lost it all," she said.
The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.
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