By Joshua Melvin
Contra Costa Times
ALAMEDA, Calif. — A blaze that killed a man and a dachshund in the city of Alameda Saturday night appears to have been sparked by an overloaded electrical circuit, a fire official said Sunday.
Fire crews rushed to a house on the 1800 block of Elm Street around 8:46 p.m. after a neighbor spotted flames pouring out of a window, said Alameda Fire Department Division Chief Daren Olson.
Firefighters found the unconscious victim, whose identity the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau said it was trying to confirm Sunday morning, laying in a hallway.
The man was taken by ambulance to Highland Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. No one else was hurt or forced out of the house by the blaze, Olson said.
Though investigators have not finished their probe, it appears the flames were started by an overloaded power circuit in the kitchen. From the kitchen, the fire spread to the back of the two-story, single family home.
Contact Joshua Melvin at 650-348-4335. Follow him at Twitter.com/melvinreport
Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Times