A fire in west Modesto on Tuesday morning destroyed a duplex and displaced eight people, including six children.
Rosa Soto was in the front yard of the residence in the 1300 block of Figaro Avenue about 7:45 a.m. when she heard her father, who lives next door, yell "Fire!" He ran toward the rear of the duplex where the flames began enveloping a carport.
Meanwhile, Soto's brother-in-law, who lives nearby and was in one of the units with Rosa's 2-year-old son, came through the front door with the child. Her 9-year-old daughter, Annabelle, and 9-month-old daughter, Cecilia, were next door at her parents' house when the fire broke out.
Soto's father and brother-in-law tried to extinguish the flames with a garden hose while calling out to the family living in the duplex's other unit.
"They were yelling that the house was on fire and to get out," said resident Raven Gil.
Gil grabbed her daughter Mikayla, 12, and rushed upstairs to retrieve her 6-year-old son, Rudy.
"All I grabbed was my cell phone to call 911 and my keys to move the car out of the way," she said.
The Burbank-Paradise Fire District responded to the call.
"Three-quarters of the building was fully involved with fire exiting through the roof and every window and door," said Capt. Steve Rickey.
The fire severed a power line on the east side of the homes, hampering efforts to extinguish the flames until the Modesto Irrigation District could cut the power.
In the interim, firefighters had to focus their efforts mostly on the roof and west side of the duplex until MID crews arrived about 20 minutes after firefighters called for assistance.
The Ceres Fire Department, Woodland Avenue Fire District and Westport Fire District provided mutual aid.
"We would have disregarded the power lines if there were people inside the building, of course," Rickey said. "We could have had every fire department at the scene and still ended up with the same result."
The firefighters' defensive approach, however, angered a group of neighbors unaware of the dangers posed by the live power line.
Some yelled at firefighters, accusing them of not doing enough to save the structure and its contents, which had been deemed a loss from the time crews arrived.
Rickey said verbal hostilities were quickly trending toward physical violence so the Sheriff's Department was called to assist with crowd control and the group dispersed.
The fire was contained within 10 minutes of firefighters' arrival and extinguished in about 30 minutes, Rickey said.
Standing in front of her charred house Tuesday afternoon, Soto held up a once-silver key chain, now black with soot.
"(The fire) melted my house key," she said and shrugged. "I won't need it anymore."
The family also lost a pet turtle that Annabelle said she had for nine years.
Gil's 17-year-old daughter, Dalila, who was at school when the fire broke out, said after the smoke had cleared, the family was relieved to find their dog Spinna had survived in the back yard.
"I lost all my clothes, everything of value," Dalila said. "But I'm just happy my family is OK."
The fire, which likely started because of an electrical malfunction, caused an estimated $183,500 in damage.
Neither the Sotos nor the Gils had renter insurance, but they are receiving assistance from the Red Cross.
The Burbank-Paradise Fire District is accepting donations of blankets and clothing for the families. Anyone who would like to help may call the station at (209) 523-1129.
Bee staff writer Erin Tracy can be reached at etracy@modbee.com or (209) 578-2366.
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