Structural Collapse at Dwelling Fire Results in Two Firefighter Fatalities - (Stockton, California - February 6, 1997) » The House

The house at 26 West Mendocino Avenue was originally built in 1942 as a 5room, 1-1/2 story, single family dwelling. The 900 square foot floor plan was typical of houses in the neighborhood of single family dwellings on narrow residential streets, about one mile north of the downtown business district. It was built on a 52 ft x 100 ft lot in the middle of a residential block.

The interior and roof construction of the house were wood frame, however the exterior walls that were visible from the front were brick. A 2-story wood frame section, with wood exterior walls, was added to the rear of the house in 1952. The addition, which could not be seen from the street, almost doubled the ground floor area of the house and included a large master bedroom suite and a sundeck on the upper level. The lower level of the addition was a large open room, approximately 37 ft x 27 ft in area, which was used by the occupant as a dance studio.

To create this large open area on the lower area, the upper floor was constructed with 3x12 wood joists on 12-inch centers supporting a hardwood floor. The joists, which were almost 22 feet long, were supported at one end by an exterior bearing wall and by a header beam, which ran across the room at an unusual angle. Part of the upper story and the sundeck were cantilevered beyond the header beam.

The header beam was constructed of doubled 2x12 wood members assembled with a narrow space between them. It was attached at an irregular angle to the rear wall of the original structure and to the rear exterior wall of the addition. A single 4x6 wood post supported the header beam within the room.

The dance studio was constructed with a hardwood floor and with 1x8 tongue and groove wood covering on most of the walls and ceiling. The exterior walls had several windows and sliding glass doors. On the upper level, sliding glass doors opened to the sundeck, which ran along the east side of the addition. The only access to the upper level was a narrow stairway that rose from the studio along the west wall of the addition near the original rear wall to the master bedroom.

The lot was crowded with the enlarged dwelling and a 500 square foot wood garage at the rear of the property, almost touching the house. Six-foot high fences were built on the property lines at the rear and along most of both sides, leaving a narrow space along the west side of the property as the only access to the small rear yard. At the time of the fire, three automobiles and a van were parked in the driveway that ran along the east side, further congesting access to the rear of the property.

The only resident at the time of the fire was an 82 year old woman, who was apparently sleeping in the master bedroom on the second floor. She was a retired dance instructor and had lived in the house for many years. The fire was determined to have originated in the bedroom area, possibly from an electric blanket, and extended down through the floor into the lower level. The occupant was asphyxiated by carbon monoxide, which suggests that the fire smoldered for a considerable time before the rapid fire spread began.

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