LOS GATOS — Three people were injured in a house fire here Wednesday night, a fire official said.
The blaze was reported just before 9:15 p.m. on Dardanelli Lane, near Knowles Drive and Winchester Boulevard. Santa Clara County Fire Department crews arrived minutes later to find flames shooting from a duplex, said Battalion Chief Brent Rapport.
Three residents were rushed to Valley Medical Center, two with moderate injuries and one with minor injuries, Rapport said.
Rapport said the fire was challenging to fight because of a “large fuel load” inside the home.
“It was quite congested in there,” he said.
Flames also spread into the attic, but crews stopped them from reaching the other half of the duplex. Rapport said the fire was knocked down within 20 minutes of crews arriving on scene.
“If it wasn’t for good fire tactics, we would’ve had the other side impacted,” Rapport said.
The half that didn’t catch fire, however, was damaged by smoke. A total of five residents, four from the side that burned and one from the side that didn’t, were displaced, Rapport said.
Lisa Byers, who lives in the half that didn’t catch fire, said she was on the couch watching television when she heard loud banging and yelling coming from the other side.
“Then I looked out the window and I saw flames,” she said.
Around the same time, a resident of a nearby duplex banged on her door and urged her to leave. She did, but not before grabbing a suitcase, her valuables and some important documents.
“The smoke was so bad,” Byers said.
The American Red Cross responded to the scene to help the displaced residents, but Byers said she was going to stay with her mother.
Byers was not close with the residents of the half of the duplex that caught fire, but she described them as “very lovely people.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
