How to resolve AdBlock issue? MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A neighbor is being credited for saving the life of a Middletown man whose home caught fire on Saturday morning.
The fire at the home, located in the 24000 block of Hildebrand Road, was first reported minutes before 10 a.m. Saturday, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Wink.
Wink said the home’s resident was unaware that the home was on fire, but that a neighbor riding by on a motorcycle stopped and got into the home to warn him.
The two men and the resident’s two pets were able to get out without injury, according to Wink.
“They got out just in time,” he said.
At the time of the fire the temperature was 92 degrees, with 12 percent humidity, Wink said.
Wink said the two main factors in keeping the fire from spreading into nearby wildland was a lack of any wind and the availability of a lot of local fire resources, with nine volunteers happening to be at the South Lake County Fire Station when the call was dispatched.
Personnel from South Lake County Fire, Cal Fire and Calistoga Fire Department responded, he said.
The residence and three outbuildings were destroyed, said Wink.
Wink said if there had been wind the fire could have gone right up nearby McGuire Peak, potentially sparking a major wildland fire.
The fire was knocked down within 45 minutes, but Wink said firefighters were on scene until 4 p.m., and checked the scene later that night and again on Sunday.
Wink estimated total losses at $200,000.
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