SUV fire damages home in Martinez

A fire that started in an SUV parked in the garage of a Martinez home Thursday night destroyed the vehicle and heavily damaged the home.

• Photos

Firefighters from Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue were called just after 8 p.m. to 242 Brooks Drive, and found the garage in flames when the first vehicles arrived, said Honey Shore, the fire department's public information officer.

The fire was quickly extinguished, but a 2002 Ford Expedition parked in the garage was a total loss, Mrs. Shore said.

The garage was heavily damaged by fire, but the home received only smoke damage.

The homeowners, William and Donna Redd and their son, 11-year-old Richard, escaped without injury.

"My son and I were in the living room watching a movie," Mrs. Redd said.

"My husband had just fixed his lunch, and I heard something backfire and thought it was a car in the street," she said. "The next thing I know, my neighbor was banging on the door."

Laura Ingram, who lives across the street at 237 Brooks Drive, said she heard a horn blowing in the street from a passing motorist.

When she stepped onto her front porch, "I glanced over and saw fire coming out of the garage," Ms. Ingram said.

"I screamed back in the house that there was a fire," she said.

Her husband, Jim Milhous, ran across the street and "started banging and pounding on the door" to alert the Redds, he said.

Battalion Chief Danny Kuhlmann called the state Fire Marshal's Office to request an investigator because of the likely origin of the fire in the SUV.

A nearby Springlakes home was destroyed by a fire Oct. 11, 2004, that started under the hood of a parked 2000 Ford Expedition, fire officials said.

Like the Redds' SUV, that Ford was in the garage and was not running at the time of the fire.