4 people killed in house fire
An early morning house fire Saturday killed four people, including two firefighters trapped by surging flames while trying to rescue one of the home’s residents, authorities said.
Fire Capt. Matt C. Burton, 34, of Concord and Fire Engineer Scott P. Desmond, 37, of Brentwood died in the blaze that broke out about 1:45 a.m., said Emily Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.
A 67-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman who lived in the San Pablo house also died in the blaze. Their names were not released.
One of the residents had already been found when the firefighters plunged back into the burning building to find the other person.
Firefighters then “heard kind of a whoosh sound, and the fire started going through the rooms,” Fire Chief Keith Richter said. “That trapped the firefighters.”
The men were wearing standard safety equipment when they were caught in a “flashover” in which hot gases trapped in a burning structure ignite in a sudden burst of flame, Richter said.
The on-duty deaths were the first in the fire district’s history, Richter said.
Investigators, including officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, blocked off the residential street as they tried to determine what started the fire.
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