Fire damages Santa Rosa home, displaces family of eight

Fire badly damaged a west Santa Rosa home Sunday night, displacing a family of eight.

The Bruce Court fire was reported just before 8 p.m. and firefighters arrived within four minutes to find flames throughout the attic and threatening a neighboring home, Santa Rosa fire Battalion Chief Matt Gloeckner said Monday. Bruce Court is off Jennings Avenue near Marlow Road.

Officials sounded a second alarm due to the fire’s threat to the neighborhood, bringing 33 firefighters with six engines and two ladder trucks. Construction in the attic to allow for storage made it tougher for firefighters to punch through, Gloeckner said.

The fire was held to the attic, where it started, and the roof but there was substantial water and heat damage to the rest of the home and minor heat damage to the side of another home. Gloeckner estimated damage at $200,000.

Santa Rosa fire inspector Quang Pham said in an email Monday evening that the most likely cause of the fire is unapproved electrical wiring.

The Red Cross is helping the family of five adults and three children with temporary housing.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.