UPDATE: Fireworks May Be to Blame for Blaze at Burlingame Hills Home

Firefighters battled a two-alarm at a Burlingame Hills home Wednesday afternoon, a fire that was presumably caused by the use of illegal fireworks.

The Central County Fire Department received a call from a person driving by at approximately 3:27 p.m., who said that they saw fire coming from the top of a home at 140 Los Robles Drives. Other local residents said they heard what sounded like fireworks.

Rocque Yballa, division chief and fire marshal for the Central County Fire Department, said illegal fireworks were found on the premises.

“Fireworks were heard in the area and we did find fireworks on scene,” Yballa said. “We have been conducting interviews in so far as what actually was the origin and the start of the fire. That we need to confirm through further investigation.”

Yballa said no cilvilians were injured in the fire, but one firefighter suffered from heat exhaustion.

Originally, the fire was reported to have taken place at 146 Los Robles Drive, as the driver apparently reported the wrong address. Local residents commented that flames were shooting from the top of the house and that the fire was “very large and scary.”

“I think the flame was so high that a lot of people called it in,” said Matt Folk, who lives at 146 Los Robles, thought to be the home on fire initially. “They shut Hillside off pretty quickly. There was tons of smoke. The flames were literally shooting up fairly high.”

“We ran out and it was a pretty sizable fire,” said Yvonne Upsher, who lives across the street from where the fire took place. “Flames were shooting out of the top of the house along with a whole bunch of smoke.”

As noticed by those who witnessed the fire, a majority of the flames engulfed the top of the home. Despite the flames lasting for more than an hour, Yballa commented that rather than spreading significantly throughout the property, the fire seemed to remain toward the top of the house.

“The fire was in the attic area but there was some collapse,” Yballa said. “At this stage, I would probably say that the occupants will not stay in the house tonight.”

Yballa emphasized that an investigation into the use of the fireworks will take place in the coming days, remarking that the urban setting as well as the recent heat will prompt the neighborhood to be put on firewatch.

“Any type of fireworks…is considered illegal. We did find some firecrackers, which are deemed non-safe and [non-sane], but I don’t know if that was the actual cause of the fire. We will look further into the cause of the fire, how the fireworks were being utilized, where they were utilized, what time of day they were utilized,” he said.