Fire Crews Squelch Flames in Abandoned House on 159th

safely extinguished a blaze Friday morning in a longtime abandoned home in the 11200 block of 159th Street, about one block west of Wolf Road.

Witnesses made several calls to the at 11:01 a.m., when they reported seeing flames coming from the structure's roof. Because department officials knew the home has been abandoned for about 15 years, they ordered their firefighters to remain outside.

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"There's a big difference between an abandoned home and a vacant one," Orland Fire Chief Raymond Kay said, after the blaze. "This house was not tenable and it's been that way for a long time. Empty houses are often not watched or taken care of. Wild animals, like raccoons, run in and out of them. … Knowing that, it's not a building we wanted to send anyone into."

Instead, crews focused on isolating the flames to the single structure by monitoring flying embers and protecting nearby buildings against their spread. The roof of the house collapsed during the process. Some traffic was rerouted by officers while a hose line extended across 159th Street.

The blaze was fully extinguished by 12:30 p.m. Its cause was still unknown as of 2:30 p.m. Friday, but Kay noted the fire may have started in the garage.

"The fire is, of course, under investigation," he said. "We're just glad we have the collaboration that we do, which allows us to coordinate an effort like this. It's a dangerous building. But we put out the fire and nobody got hurt."

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