Gusty Santa Ana conditions heighten potential for house fires, official warns : Fireplace Ember Ignites Shake Roof; Family Loses Home

Just last week, Bonnie Kridner had contracted to have a wood-shingle roof replaced with a fire-retardant tile roof on the rental home she owns in Anaheim.

But because she did not want to disrupt the tenant family during Christmas, she said she decided to hold off on the work until after the holiday.

“We didn’t want them to have the mess,” Kridner said Sunday.

Tenants Gerald Balius, 62, and his wife, Nell, do have a mess, however. Sunday, a chimney ember apparently found its way to the dry shake-shingle rooftop of the home in the 2600 block of East Carnival Avenue, and the flames quickly enveloped the single-story structure, fire officials said.

“It was blazing pretty good,” said neighbor Mylin Norton, who worried along with other nearby residents that flaming embers would land on their wood-shingle rooftops.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze before it could spread to other homes. Damage to the home was estimated at about $80,000.

Balius, a minister, his wife and their daughter, Lisa, 24, all managed to flee the burning residence without any serious harm. Norton said they had time only to move their cars to a safer location down the street.

Orange County firefighters called by Norton and other neighbors arrived on the scene within a matter of minutes and were able to salvage many of the family’s belongings.

But they were still left without a home, and had only the clothes on their back, Kridner said. “They’re in pretty bad shape,” she said.

The American Red Cross planned to put the family up in a Fullerton hotel Sunday night and was making arrangements to feed and clothe them until they can get back on their feet, said Red Cross spokesman Kennedy Grant in Orange County.

The family was said to be too upset to talk about the fire. Gerald Balius was treated by paramedics at the fire scene for stress and hypertension.

The fire was one of many across the Southland this weekend attributed to stray chimney embers. Fire officials repeated their warning Sunday that fireplaces should be regularly cleaned of combustive soot and that they should be equipped with spark-arrester screens to prevent embers from escaping from the chimney.

Battalion Chief Greg Peterson of the Orange County Fire Department said the potential of starting a house fire from a stray chimney ember is heightened during times of dry, gusty Santa Ana conditions, when the wind dries out wood.