Three Tucson residents were displaced from their home in the 10000 block of East Paseo San Bernardo after a fire caused by burning weeds heavily damaged the attic. The resident had been burning weeds earlier in the evening when after approximately an hour, he noticed the smell of smoke and saw smoke coming from vents in the home.
After calling 9-1-1 to report his house on fire, he went outside and saw flames in the wall near the ground where he had been burning weeds. The first TFD engine arrived on scene and immediately went inside. Conditions were clear inside the home but heavy smoke was coming from both ends of the roof area, a sign the attic was on fire. A second crew arrived on scene and was assigned to go to the roof to perform an attic reset, a task made much more difficult due to the tile on the roof. Flames were visible through a vent on the side of the house and firefighters sprayed water in to the vent from below while the other crew was clearing tiles.
The crew on the roof was able to perform the attic reset, piercing through the roof and spraying water into the attic from above. This extinguished the flames very quickly and the fire was called under control 23 minutes after crews arrived. Nine units and twenty-three firefighters responded to the scene. Fire investigators were on scene and confirmed that the fire started after a blow torch was used to burn weeds in the yard, spreading into the wall.
Three residents, two males and a female, all in their thirties were displaced but would be staying with relatives and did not need assistance from Red Cross.