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2 dead in Calif. wind-driven house fire

Sacramento firefighters faced heavy fire at the rear of the room-and-board home

By Rosalio Ahumada
The Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Firefighters found one person dead in a burning home Wednesday in Sacramento’s Meadowview neighborhood, and another person who was pulled out of the blaze died after being hospitalized.

The fire was reported shortly before 11 a.m. at the house in the 1900 block of Niantic Way, just west of 21st Street.

Firefighters arrived and found heavy smoke and flames coming from the back of the single-story home, said Capt. Justin Sylvia, a spokesman for the Sacramento Fire Department.

He said strong wind on late Wednesday morning pushed the flames toward the back of their home, and the fire threatened to spread to a nearby home.

The firefighters got the fire under control and stopped the flames from reaching the other home, Sylvia said. Fire investigators did not know what started the fire, Sylvia said Wednesday afternoon, and investigators, for now, have ruled the cause of the fire to be “undetermined.”

Sylvia said the firefighters found one person dead inside the home and were performing CPR on another person. The second victim appeared to have suffered severe burns to the face and was pronounced dead at a hospital, Sylvia said. The two people who died were believed to be men, but Sylvia said he didn’t have any further details about the fire victims.

The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office will release the names of the victims after their families have been notified.

Sylvia said other occupants in the burning home got out safely. He said residents who got out safely told authorities that a total of seven people lived in the room-and-board home.

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