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Fire damages real estate shop in Boulder Creek
Mar 22, 2013 (Santa Cruz Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
BOULDER CREEK -- A fire damaged a downtown Boulder Creek real estate business Friday morning, but a quick response from neighbors and firefighters saved the blaze from spreading to surrounding shops.
Boulder Creek Fire Chief Kevin McClish said the 6:50 a.m. fire likely started from transients who threw cigarettes near the building at Coldwell Banker at 13117 Central Ave.
An owner of a hardware store across the street and a few others spotted the blaze and tried to put it out with fire extinguishers and a garden hose. They called 911.
No one was in the building, and firefighters arrived and controlled the blaze by 7:20 a.m. No one was injured.
"It was a great save," McClish said. "If this had happened in the middle of the night, we would have lost several buildings."
The fire was contained to the single-story real estate business, which had smoke damage throughout the building. Firefighters also had to cut a wall to stop the fire's spread. No other buildings were damaged.
During an investigation, firefighters found piles of cigarettes and beer cans littered in an alley near the shop.
Transients "were back there drinking and throwing cigarettes under the building," McClish said. "There were no other heat sources" that could have started the fire, he said.
Authorities interviewed a few transients at the scene but no one was arrested Friday morning.
Firefighters estimated at least $5,000 damage to the
building.
Doug Conrad, the 43-year-old owner of Boulder Creek Hardware, said he happened to be receiving an early morning delivery when his wife, Ann Marie Conrad, spotted the fire and alerted him.
Doug Conrad and two other passersby, Jim Walters and Mark Kinder, grabbed about four fire extinguishers from the hardware store and fought the fire from an alley.
Smoke billowed from the building.
"It was getting a little hard to breathe." Doug said.
They stretched a garden hose from their shop across the road to fight the fire. It barely reached.
"It was scary there for a bit," Doug said.
Ben Lomond firefighters also responded to the fire.
Coldwell Banker remained closed Friday.
Follow Sentinel reporter Stephen Baxter on Twitter at Twitter.com/sbaxter_sc
GeekinCreekans blog post: Fire in Boulder Creek -- with photos
___ (c)2013 the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.) Visit the Santa
Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.) at www.santacruzsentinel.com Distributed
by MCT Information Services
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