Story/Photos By Ted Boothroyd

This very intense fire destroyed the home of an elderly couple in Santa Rosa, Ca on December 13, 2001. Earlier in the day one of them cleaned out the fireplace of ashes and set the bag out on the back porch, unaware of the burning embers still present.

Florence and Joel Hedgpeth, each 90 years old, were fortunate enough to awaken from an afternoon nap after hearing a noisy rumbling elsewhere in the house.

Mrs. Hedgpeth opened the bedroom door and was forced by the smoke back into the bedroom. This all took place without benefit of a smoke detector.

They escaped uninjured, but the house was filled with valuable antiques, oil paintings and other belongings as the blaze continued to rage.

The first picture shows what Battalion Chief Jack Piccinini had to deal with upon arrival.

At first the fire appeared to be strictly defensive, so the first line set up was an inch and 3/4 outside the structure to cool the flames and size-up an entry.

Despite the "fully involved" posture of the fire, Chief Piccinini ordered two more inch and 3/4 hose lines to be set up at the north wing of the home and advanced inside.

That particular area was determined to be the safest for an inside offensive approach.

The heat and smoke were far advanced due in part to the difficulty of access to the wooded neighborhood.

The first due engine was Santa Rosa Fire Department's Engine 26.

E-26 had to first climb a long steep hill paralleling the street of the fire, then double back to the fire down a lane from the top of the hill.

Mr. Hedgpeth is well known in the field of Marine Ecology and was very concerned about his library. He is the owner of what is described as this country's largest private collection of marine biology books, with over 5,000 volumes.

Because of the aggressive attack on the fire, the library was saved, albeit scorched.

If Chief Piccinini had elected to use defensive tactics only, the library would certainly have been gone forever, along with a 300 page volume of Mrs. Hedgpeth's family history she had written.

The fire was under control within fifteen minutes, but crews were on the scene for several hours for overhaul and investigation.

Mrs. Hedgpeth was later quoted as saying, "It is an ill wind that doesn't blow some good". She intends to build a new house on the property adding "The new home will probably suit our needs better, but until then we'll just live day to day, it's all you can do".

It appears certain that the Santa Rosa Fire Department will require a smoke detector in the new home.

Equipment and personnel on the scene:

Engine 26 - 3 Firefighters
Engine 6 - 3 Firefighters
Engine 5 - 3 Firefighters
Truck 1 - 4 Firefighters
Battalion 1 - Incident command
Deputy Chief - Available
Training Chief - Available
Fire Marshal - Available
Fire inspector - Available