Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fire destroys Second Street house

Neighbors say the fire that destroyed a home in Prescott Tuesday began in the kitchen. One person was reportedly at home when the fire started, though neighbors said the boy was out of the house by the time firefighters arrived.

The home, located in the 200 block of West Second Street in Prescott, was a total loss.

Prescott Firefighters were called out shortly before 3 p.m. Within minutes, the house was totally engulfed in flames. For a short time, it seemed the fire was under control but firefighters indicated that the water pressure was low and the fire blazed higher over the course of the next few minutes.

A few minutes after 3 p.m., the citys electric workers disconnected the electric service. Volunteers pushed a vehicle away from the home almost an hour later.

After about an hour of burning, the homes roof caved in. At one point, drifting ash set fire to dry grass on the opposite side of Second Street. The grass was fairly high and it took two firefighters several minutes to extinguish that blaze.

It took more than an hour and a half for the fire to burn out while firefighters poured water onto the exterior walls in an apparent attempt to keep the blaze from spreading to a neighboring home.

An ambulance was on the scene for a short period of time, but left once it was determined that no one was inside the house.