Fire guts home in Elk Grove neighborhood bringing dozens of firefighters to battle blaze
Fire crews battled a blaze that roared through an Elk Grove home Wednesday afternoon.
Columns of smoke from the 2:30 p.m. fire in the 3200 block of Port Pacific Lane in the city’s Maritime community could be seen for several miles as dozens of Cosumnes CSD Fire, Sacramento city and Metro Fire firefighters attacked the flames. No injuries were reported and fire did not spread to neighboring houses, but the fire caused near total damage to the Port Pacific home.
“We found heavy fire on the first floor extending into the second. We want to protect as much as we can on both sides” of the home, said Cosumnes Community Service District Fire Department Chief Felipe Rodriguez at the scene.
“The goal right now is to extinguish the fire and keep it from the adjoining structures on both sides. We made sure no one was inside and we’re making sure the fire stays contained to the structure itself.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Ken Mederios was mowing his lawn around the corner when he saw smoke. Mederios, a 25-year Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District veteran, now retired, briefly joined crews on the fire line stretching ¾-inch hose around to the back of the home; helping an engineer with hydrant line.
“It was probably tough to gain entry. You could see the flames coming up the back of the house, lapping up to the second floor,” Mederios said.
Neighbor Chris Neumann was riding his bicycle near Port Pacific when the fire broke out at the spacious two-story home. He watched from a nearby driveway as crews trained hoses at the plumes of smoke billowing from the home’s second floor and attic.
“I got here before the firefighters. The homeowner was already outside. It seemed to start in the back of the home where the kitchen is,” Neumann said. “It wasn’t to the second floor yet. Once it got going, it spread pretty quickly.”
“I said, ‘That’s close by,’” Mederios said. “It’s not too often you see homes go up in this neighborhood.”
Crews were still working to extinguish the fire before 5 p.m., said Cosumnes Fire Department officials, with overhaul operations to extend into the evening hours.
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