E.T.Russell
Friday October 5, at noon, a structure fire alert was dispatched to a house in the 200 block of Fairway in Big Bear City. All three; Big Bear City, Baldwin Lake and Big Bear Lake fire departments, responded immediately to a fire at the back of a Maltby designed house. Upon arrival firefighters found the flames just beginning to climb the back-side of the house. There were no occupants home at the time and no injuries occurred as a result of the fire.
The firefighters quickly got the flames under control with only damage to the exterior and no damage to the interior. After the fire was extinguished the investigation found that piles of rubbish, including pine needles and dry leaves were left very near the building. Evidentially, the accumulated pile became combustible and fire quickly traveled to the shake shingle roof.
Fortunately, the fire was not of danger to any neighboring residences. Shake shingle roofs are highly combustible and there are programs available to assist homeowners to replace the roofs. More information is available by contacting the fire department.