Fire Engulfs Garage on Hall St., Leaves Family Heartbroken

Robin Futrell stood behind yellow police tape, her teary eyes hidden by sunglasses, looking in disbelief at her garage - once full of decade-old pictures, Christmas ornaments, and other objects lost but not yet remembered - now left in ruinous heaps of charred, blackened wood and twisted metal.

"It is what I imagine hell to look like," she said. "It was raining ash. It was unlike anything I've ever seen."

Futrell, 47, slept soundly beside her fiancee and homeowner Thomas Miller, 51, in their bedroom toward the back of the house. Miller was awoken by the smell of smoke. Then he heard crackling fire. 

"Get the dogs and call 9-1-1," Futrell remembered Miller yelling. "The house is on fire!" 

Futrell and Miller rounded up their daughter and three dogs and ran out of the house and to their neighbors, whom they warned of the blaze.

At 6:48 a.m., a second-alarm fire began inside the detached, backyard garage at 996 Hall St., said Belmont-San Carlos Battalion Chief Tommy Mota. The first engine arrived at 6:54 a.m. and had the fire under control within 20 minutes. Five engines and one truck arrived to preserve the house and second shed in the backyard. 

The cause of fire has yet to be determined. Nobody was injured.

The garage was completely destroyed. Some damage was also done to the roof of the house, as well as significant damage to the inside bathroom and bedrooms. Smoke and water damage did damage to the exterior, as well.

The family estimated that Miller, who runs a construction company, lost tens of thousands of dollars worth the tools, a loss the family fears will affect his business. Futrell said the insurance company has offered the family a hotel for the indefinite future while the clean-up occurs. 

Senco Emergency ervice arrived just after the fire department. "We're hear to prevent any vandalsim, and we're going to throw up a cyclone fence and get this place cleaned up," said Al Bernal, 40. Clean-up will begin after the insurance company, AAA, investigates the scene. 

"It's just so scary," said Heidi Lowery, 23, who lives in the house with her mother and step-father. "I just remember my dad running into my room and screaming, 'Grab the dogs and get the F out of here."

Firefighters continued dosing the destroyed garage with water well into the late morning while neighbors gathered to look the carnage left by the fire.

"I've lived here for 16-years and I've never seen anything like that," said neighbor Cheryl McDonald, 42. "I heard three booms," said McDonald, who mistook them for firecrackers. "When I looked out my window, I saw flames had engulfed the entire garage."

McDonald said she immediately put leashes on her dogs and got her children up in case they had to escape to safety should the fire spread.

As the fire extinguishing continued, Futrell stood and watched. Suddenly she remembered another cherished possession lost, and she broke into tears. 

Six Build-A-Bear dolls her daughter had bought her when she was sick. 

"It's just stuff," said her daughter Ashley Brandt, 25. "It can all be replaced. What's important was that nobody was hurt. That's what's important."