Fire destroys Diamond Ridge home </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 9:34 PM on Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Fire destroys Diamond Ridge home

BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

Homer Volunteer Fire Department crews poured everything they had on a two-story house fire that lit up the Homer hillside Sunday night about 9:20 p.m. Nine units, including tankers, fire engines, ambulances and utility trucks, went to the fire on Diamond Ridge Road near the Hickerson Memorial Cemetery.

Photo by Richard Purington

A house burns Sunday night on Diamond Ridge.

No one was home at the time, and no firefighters were injured in fighting the blaze. The fire did not spread into brush. Crews worked the fire until 3:30 a.m. Monday and then went back at 4:45 a.m. when the fire rekindled.

"We were there forever," said HVFD Chief Bob Painter.

The fire showed the foresight of installing a 10,000-gallon water tank at the corner of Diamond Ridge Road and the Sterling Highway. Installed as part of improvements to the Kachemak Emergency Service Area the fire and emergency medical services area that includes Diamond Ridge for the first time firefighters emptied that tank.

Painter estimated about 24,000 gallons was used to put out the fire. Tankers made five trips to the nearest hydrant at West Homer Elementary School.

That drain on city water supplies caused some silt to show up in waterlines, a problem addressed by the Homer Public Works Department this week, Painter said.

The fire started upstairs in the large, two-story house. Investigators do not know the cause, although it's suspected to have been electrical in origin.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.