By Julia Scott
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Two people died early Sunday morning in a two-alarm fire inside a San Bruno home that was not equipped with a single smoke detector, San Bruno Battalion Chief Dan Voreyer said.
Officials said the victims were an elderly couple living in the three-bedroom house at 3271 Highland Drive. The female victim was identified as 73-year-old Angela Rita Dunbar; the male victim was too badly burned to be immediately identified Sunday, according to the San Mateo County Coroner’s office.
A directory search shows a man named Richard Dunbar living at the same address in San Bruno.
Six fire engines arrived at the home around 12:10 a.m. to find smoke and flames coming from the front end of the residence. A second alarm was called for, and firefighters quickly learned there were victims inside the house, Voreyer said.
Firefighters pulled one victim from a bedroom in the back of the two-story structure, and the other victim from a living room in the front, said Millbrae Division Chief Ron Lavezzo. He said the fire had likely started in the front of the house, where it burned the hottest. The coroner’s office confirmed that Angela Dunbar had been pulled out of the bedroom in the back of the house. Both victims were pronounced dead on the scene, and their house, which Lavezzo said was at least 40 years old, sustained $80,000 to $100,000 worth of damage.
Lavezzo said it took firefighters 25 minutes to extinguish the fire. They had to cut through the roof to let the hot fumes out, and put a hole in the garage door to check for other victims. After the flames died down, they pulled the sheetrock off the walls to make sure the wood wasn’t smoldering, he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Lavezzo said he wasn’t sure who had called about the fire, or how long it had been burning by the time somebody noticed.
“It could have smoldered for hours. It could have been lit from anything,” he said.
No other injuries were reported in the fire and neighboring homes were not threatened, Lavezzo said. A cat litter box was found in the residence, but no cat.
Lavezzo said the event underscored the importance of installing a working smoke detector at home.
“They had lived there for years, according to neighbors,” Lavezzo said. “They could have bought the house before fire detectors were in use.”
Friends of the couple were shocked Sunday at the possibility both died. Russell Bissonnette, outgoing district commander of the American Legion, said Richard Dunbar was to be sworn in as the new district commander on Sunday, just hours after he died.
“It’s stunning. He was a great man. He was one of my teachers,” said Bissonnette. He said Dunbar had previously been commander of the American Legion’s San Bruno post, and his wife Angela the head of the Women’s Auxiliary.