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CAMPBELL — Jose Gonzalez woke up early Friday morning to the screams of neighbors yelling “Fire, fire, get out.” The Campbell resident ran out of his apartment located off Hamilton Avenue and grabbed a fire extinguisher located in the complex.

When Gonzalez got to the fire, he realized his efforts would be futile.

“The whole carport was engulfed in flames, beyond me being able to do anything,” Gonzalez said

The two-alarm fire, which has ignited accidentally, destroyed or damaged 16 vehicles parked under or near one of the carports at the Dover Apartments, located on Dover Way at Hamilton Avenue, according to the Santa Clara County Fire Department. Several residents said the carport also contained storage units, and all of those possessions were destroyed in the blaze.

Most of the 16 vehicles were completely destroyed. Firefighters saved six vehicles from the flames.

A fire cause investigator determined the blaze was accidental and was sparked by hot charcoal briquettes smoldering in a barbecue, according to count fire Capt. Bill Murphy.

“The barbecue was on top of other combustible material, and was immediately adjacent to a car and a wall,” Murphy said.

Friday morning, some residents stood outside and surveyed the damage as firefighters finished their mop-up efforts. Two people whose vehicles were destroyed declined to be interviewed.

Gonzalez said he “got lucky” and did not have a vehicle destroyed in the blaze but added his brother-in-law wasn’t as fortunate. Gonzalez said his brother-in-law lost an old Jeep Wagoneer, which was handed down to him by his grandmother.

Robert Strong, who lives in the complex, said he woke in the middle of the night to the sounds of a “big explosion.” He looked outside and saw an orange glow near the carport, located behind the complex.

Strong said he and several other neighbors began knocking on doors to get people out of their units as the fire spread rapidly across the carport.

“Everybody was banging on each others doors, saying get out, get out,” Gonzalez said.

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