Family loses house in fire

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Firefighters work to put out a fire at the corner of Sunset Avenue and Schnoor Street on Monday, which may have been caused by a malfunction in the heating system.

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The Madera Fire Department responded to a residential rooftop fire at a home at the intersection of Sunset Avenue and Schnoor Streets.

The fire, which was seen by passing motorists on Monday evening, appeared to have started in the rooftop heating unit, according to Madera Battalion Fire Chief James Forga.

The fire displaced a family with three young children. The husband had just sustained serious injuries in a car crash the night before and was still hospitalized.

Forga said the family was not home at the time of the fire and it was fortunate the flames were spotted and reported so quickly.

“But the fire had already spread into the attic of the older home,” Forga said. “Crews were able to quickly extinguish it, but there was damage to the heating unit, the roof and inside the attic. Probably in the range of $100,000 in damages... We also had to pull the ceilings from the living room and one of the bedrooms (to look for and extinguish hot spots), unfortunately displacing the family.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation but the fire was believed to been a malfunction in the area of the heating system, Forga said.