A fire that broke out Sunday afternoon in an upstairs bedroom of a Santa Maria home caused more than $140,000 in damage and displaced a family of four, according to the Santa Maria Fire Department.
Five fire engines, including a water truck, responded about 1:50 p.m. to a report of a structure fire in the 400 block of Chaparral Street, said Fire Chief Dan Orr.
The residents, who were downstairs at the time, called authorities after they smelled smoke coming from the second floor.
Firefighters contained the small blaze within 15 minutes of their arrival, after cutting a hole in the roof on the backside of the house, Orr said.
Fire crews were also called Sunday to a small fire inside a wall behind a fireplace in a Santa Maria home at 610 W. Ballestral Ave., which was extinguished shortly after the 11:24 p.m. call time by breaching an exterior stucco wall, according to Acting Battalion Chief Leonard Champion.
No one was hurt in either fire, and damage to that structure was estimated at $15,000, Champion said.
Orr said damage to the home on Chaparral was extensive – about $100,000 to the structure and another $40,000 for contents.
“One room is a complete loss,” said Orr, noting that it was the bedroom where the fire started.
No outside damage was visible from the street, where some neighbors embraced one of the homeowners.
Orr said the family had lived in the house about six months.
The American Red Cross was providing housing for the parents, a daughter and a son, both in their 20s, because smoke damage made the home uninhabitable, Orr said.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation, he said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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