Dwelling Fire Destroys One Structure, Damages Two Others

June 14, 2019 - A fire in the 1100 block of Norton Street in San Mateo destroyed an outbuilding and damaged two homes and an adjacent outbuilding yesterday.

The fire was reported just before 11:00 AM. Responding crews arrived within five minutes and found a well involved fire to the rear of a large two story single family home. The fire was spreading to a home and an associated outbuilding next door. Additionally, a resident at a third home in the path of the spreading fire was reportedly trapped in the dwelling. Due to the large volume of fire and reported rescue, a second alarm was called to assist with the fire. After a brief search, it was determined that the person who was reportedly trapped was able to get out of the structure and evacuated to a neighbor.

In all, eight fire engines, two ladder trucks, a breathing support unit, and several command vehicles totaling 40 personnel were needed to extinguish the fire, which was knocked down in approximately 45 minutes. San Mateo Police Department assisted with several officers controlling access and traffic in the area. The fire is believed to have started in a large storage building behind the main residence, destroying that structure. The fire spread to the main home in front of the storage building before spreading to another shed on the neighboring property, causing fire damage to the house on that property.

Two residents were in the main home at the time of the fire but were able to escape, in part because of working smoke alarms in the home. There were no reported injuries to civilians or firefighters. In all, seven residents were displaced in the main fire building, and an additional resident in the home next door was displaced as well. One firefighter sustained a foot injury while extinguishing the fire. A pet dog escaped from the backyard of the neighboring property during the incident, was captured by San Mateo Police officers and reunited with its owner.

In order to make the firefighting operation safe because of a downed powerline behind the burning structures, PG&E needed to cut power to approximately 208 homes along Norton and adjacent streets in the neighborhood. They were able to restore power to many of those homes, but others had a longer outage because a damaged power pole needed to be replaced.

Fire Investigators were unable to determine the exact cause of the fire, but do not believe the blaze to be suspicious. Total damage caused by the fire is estimated at $350,000.

San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department reminds people to have working smoke alarms in their home.