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Crime & Safety

House Fire Causes $250K in Damages

No injuries in fire that may have been started by an unattended candle in a bedroom.

Palo Alto firefighters contained a small house fire Sunday afternoon, after a tenant living in the backyard cottage heard smoke alarms and saw a computer on fire in a back bedroom.

The tenant called 911 at 4:23 p.m. from 1563 El Camino Real, which prompted a response from Engine 6. The home was unoccupied during the fire.

Firefighters immediately saw heavy smoke coming from the house and were met with zero visibility once they broke through the front door, Deputy Fire Chief Roger Bloom said in a statement. Crews ventilated the house and eventually found the fire source in a bedroom.

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"The entire room and its contents were on fire when we arrived," Bloom said in an e-mail.

Bloom said firefighters extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes.

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Although the fire did not spread beyond the one room, the house has thorough smoke damage. Bloom said initial estimates of damages are $250,000 and that the likely cause was an unattended candle. No one was injured, and the tenants later returned to the home while firefighters were still on scene, Bloom said in the e-mail. They declined shelter support from the American Red Cross.

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