Leaves under a barbecue left unattended at a Palo Alto home on Saturday afternoon caught on fire, causing minimal damage to the home and neighboring home’s garages.
The Palo Alto Fire Department responded to the second-alarm fire on 258 Middlefield Road at 1:59 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, said Anthony Blakeley, acting battalion chief.
The fire department managed to extinguish the fire, cancelling the second-alarm level.
The fire caused minor damage to the east side of the original garage as well as the roof, Blakeley said. The neighboring garage’s roof and exterior walls were minimally damaged and there was some smoke damage inside the garage, Blakeley said. A fence area and a tree were also minimally damaged in the neighboring house. The neighbors were not home at the time of the fire.
“It was pretty unremarkable,” Blakeley said.
who leaves their home with a lit barbecue?
Is this criminal negligence or are the cops just going to let the insurance companies work it out?
“who leaves their home with a lit barbecue?
Who said that the resident left the house? The grill was “left unattended.” That could mean anything from going to the kitchen, watching TV, cleaning out the garage, washing the car, etc. The officials did not state that the residents actually left the property.
Many grillers walk away from their grills waiting for the charcoal to catch fire.
“Is this criminal negligence or are the cops just going to let the insurance companies work it out?”
Based on acting chief Blakeley’s testimony “It was pretty unremarkable,” it seems highly unlikely that there was any criminal negligence involved.
The article doesn’t say whether it’s charcoal or propane.
For the rest of us, this is a good reminder to keep all areas around our gas or charcoal grills clear of any debris. I’m so glad that no one was hurt & the damage wasn’t worse. How frightening for those involved!
The house may not have a working stove inside. Or other utilities. The house is in ill-repair with what appears to be old earthquake damage, and outside there are non-running vehicles and piles of rubbish. There used to be an elderly woman living there. Who knows where she is now. Strange people come and go at night. Wish police or adult protective services would look into it.
Take a look at the place with google street view. What a dump! I feel bad for the neighbors. It is lucky the whole place didn’t go up in flames.
Not a really great idea to put a grill on an area that has flammable stuff around it, even a deck in my opinion. I always put mine on concrete or cement, or if nothing else a green lawn.
The oddest things can happen where fire is concerned. You never know what is going to happen. I was cleaning out the garage on day and was interrupted in the middle of it -eventually distracted with to things. Walking by the area later I smelled smoke. Walked around and around and turned out a reflective piece of glass from something I had taken out of the garage and put in the sun had caught the sun just right and tracking a big burn spot across the bottom of a table nearby. The scorch was bad enough that it could have caught fire. Damndest thing I ever saw. Heard this can happen with bottles too or even vases of water of a certain shape.
Fire’s a clever little devil, ya gotta be careful with it! 😉