On the evening of Thursday, May 29, residents of the east Healdsburg neighborhood known as “the Lanes” were alarmed by multiple fire trucks and first responders racing up Powell Avenue to Pordon Lane, where they turned to respond to a reported structure fire in the 700 block.
“Upon arrival, crews encountered a well-involved kitchen fire that had extended into the attic, causing significant damage to the residence,” said Lance Macdonald, fire marshal for the City of Healdsburg.
“Firefighters initiated an aggressive interior attack and were able to bring the fire under control quickly,” he reported. A number of emergency vehicles from several area fire districts remained on the scene for several hours.
From the start, the neighbors were ready to offer support to the residents of the house, an elderly man and a woman and their two dogs. The woman, Colleen MCaffrey, said she was out walking a dog she was sitting and saw a red glow on the sky. First she thought it was a sunset, then as she approached thought it was the house next door, then their garage — and she realized it was the house she lived in with her partner Pete Dalcoletto, 89.
Erik Wagner, who lives across the street, said he saw the smoke and then heard the fire alarm go off inside the house. He and his wife, Jennifer, crossed the street and entered the house. “It was so smoky you couldn’t see anything,” said Wagner. “She was trying to put out the fire with a small little extinguisher, but it wasn’t doing anything. He was just standing there.”
The Wagners helped the couple out of the house with two of their three dogs, plus the dog that they had been sitting. However another dog the couple owned was not discovered until the fire personnel were doing clean-up, hiding under a piece of furniture.
Despite the damage, no injuries were reported among the two adult residents, their dogs or fire personnel. They have been temporarily relocated to a nearby hotel in Windsor. McCafferty, Dalcoletto and younger relations are helping clean up at the home on Pordon Lane.
“They were being helped by family members and are clearly loved by the entire neighborhood,” Macdonald said.
On Tuesday of this week, five days after the fire, the Fire Marshal reported for Healdsburg Fire, “At this time, our preliminary findings indicate that the fire originated in the kitchen area. However, the exact cause has not yet been determined and remains under active investigation.”
