MODESTO -- A man was injured and a dog perished in two of three separate blazes that kept firefighters hopping during a 12-hour period over the weekend in Salida and Modesto.
The unidentified, middle-aged man was flown by helicopter to a hospital after an explosion involving aerosol cans and candles at 1:54 a.m. Sunday in a bedroom at 5036 Kiernan Ave., west of Highway 99.
The explosion shattered a window, and the man's head and arms were singed, according to the Modesto Regional Fire Authority.
"What he was doing in there, we are not sure," Battalion Chief Cecil Ridge said.
A property owner said the man and another man and woman who escaped were not squatters but had no electricity, Ridge said. The fire caused about $80,000 in damage, he said.
Firefighters leaving about 4:20 a.m. were directed to another blaze at 1629 Imperial Ave. in south Modesto. That home didn't have power either; occupants ran an extension cord next door and one who wasn't home apparently had used candles, Ridge said.
The man's pit bull dog nipped at a firefighter's gloved hand, retreated inside and was killed in the fire, which melted a sliding glass door and caused about $65,000 in damage.
One occupant, fearful of the heat, had escaped through a window and another fled through the front door, Ridge said.
Firefighters also extinguished a second-story kitchen blaze at 4:22 p.m. Saturday at an apartment complex on Kiernan Avenue at McHenry Avenue, causing about $40,000 in damage. No one was injured.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or (209) 578-2390.
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