FALLBROOK: Fallbrook couple say extra costs saved home from fire

Fallbrook couple say extra costs saved home from fire

By DAN SIMMONS - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:19 PM PDT ∞

FALLBROOK ---- Alberta Davidson was awakened by a ringing gong about 5 a.m. March 9.

"It reminded me of elementary school," she joked.

But the situation was serious, as she and son Ryan, 18, quickly learned. A peek through the door to their house's garage, at 3508 Vista Corona, showed smoke clouding the air and flames climbing a wall, shooting out the vents.

They went outside in their pajamas, called 911 and worried ---- she about the Harley-Davidson and BMW parked inside, he about his pet ferret, Poncho, caged inside. To say nothing of their hilltop house, built in 2001 and connected to the three-car garage.

In the end, all survived, and fire officials gave most of the credit to overhead sprinklers that showered the room.

"The sprinkler system did an absolutely fantastic job," said Capt. Kevin Mahr of the North County Fire Protection District.

District spokesman John Buchanan said the incident showed the value of sprinklers. He said some people rebuilding after losing their homes in last fall's wildfires are reluctant to install sprinklers throughout their homes and attached garages, as required by a building code in Fallbrook, Bonsall and Rainbow that passed in 1999 after the Harmony Grove fires.

"This example proves that a few extra dollars (for sprinklers) could and have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and many lives," he said.

Four sprinklers activated, dousing the room and, Mahr said, doing what even the best firefighters can't: respond instantly, activated by the fire's heat.

"Without them, the garage would have been fully involved within five to seven minutes," he said. And the flames could have spread to the house.

Instead, the sprinklers started automatically and in doing so also set off the water-activated fire bell that awakened Davidson and alerted her to the fire.

Because the room was doused with water, the fire remained close to its source: a bundle of rags soaked in staining oil that spontaneously combusted. It left the family's workbench "a molten mass of steel," said Davidson's husband, Bill. And it burned through the cabinets above it.

But firefighters were able to douse the flames within minutes of arrival, Mahr said. And the sprinklers ensured the only flames that would touch the motorcycle, four feet from the fire's origin, were the blue and black flames on its paint job.

Albertson noted another advantage of sprinklers, which surprised her: they didn't activate except in the garage. She feared they would activate in the house, too, damaging the interior.

Mahr said that virtually all systems are room-specific. Each sprinkler head activates only when heated enough to melt a small glass fuse at its base.

And Poncho?

Firefighters rescued him 15 minutes after arriving, black with soot but still chirping.

"He had to be groomed," Alberta Davidson said with a laugh. "We thought there was no way he'd survive."

Contact staff writer Dan Simmons at (760) 740-5426 or dsimmons@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.

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