Topaz Ranch home burns

A woodstove is being blamed for the destruction of a Topaz Ranch Estates home on Monday night.

Firefighters responded to a blaze at 3930 Walker View Road at 9 p.m.

Fire Marshal Steve Eisele said the tenant of the 924-square-foot home started a fire in the woodstove when he arrived home at 6 p.m.

The man extinguished the fire, ate his dinner and then went out to the detached garage to work for a few hours.

When he came back to the house shortly before 9 p.m., he could see heavy smoke and flames in the home's living area.

He cracked open the front door, but had to retreat from the black smoke that came pouring out.

Eisele said the man called 911 from a neighbor's home. Flames were coming from the front and back of the home by the time firefighters were called.

Contributing to the intensity of the blaze was a paneling of barn wood planking.

"It was very dry, it had been in there for several years," Eisele said. "It contributed to the fire in the structure. Fire had spread from one end of the house to the other. There's not a whole bunch left. It burned half the building and what was remaining was pulled down during overhaul."

The fire was ruled accidental. The occupant had been in the home since the middle of December. The Red Cross was called to assist him.

Eisele said no one was injured in fighting the fire.