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12:42 PM PST on Friday, December 17, 2004
By SABRINA BRUMMOND / PE.com
Firefighters battled erratic winds Friday as they worked to put out a
blaze at an empty mansion at the top of Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino,
officials said. Authorities are investigating reports that rock star Sammy
Hagar owns the house.
"The fire was very labor intensive; we spent a lot of time chasing it
throughout the 25 or so rooms," Battalion Chief Mike Alder said.
"We definitely had the potential for another Old Fire," he added, a
reference to last year's blaze that burned more than 1,000 homes and
displaced thousands of people.
Fire crews arrived at the 7,000-square-foot home at 750 E. Arrowhead Road
at 8:17 a.m., Alder said. It took 50 firefighters about 50 minutes to
extinguish the blaze, he said. More than 2,000 square feet was destroyed,
with preliminary damage estimates in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One firefighter received minor injuries, but officials said she will be
okay.
The mansion is more than 40 years old and survived both the Old Fire last
year and the Panorama fire in 1980.
Alder said the department has heard reports that Hagar, the lead vocalist
for the rock group Van Halen, owns the house.
Arson investigators are on the scene trying to determine the cause of the
fire.
By SABRINA BRUMMOND / PE.com
Firefighters battled erratic winds Friday as they worked to put out a
blaze at an empty mansion at the top of Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino,
officials said. Authorities are investigating reports that rock star Sammy
Hagar owns the house.
"The fire was very labor intensive; we spent a lot of time chasing it
throughout the 25 or so rooms," Battalion Chief Mike Alder said.
"We definitely had the potential for another Old Fire," he added, a
reference to last year's blaze that burned more than 1,000 homes and
displaced thousands of people.
Fire crews arrived at the 7,000-square-foot home at 750 E. Arrowhead Road
at 8:17 a.m., Alder said. It took 50 firefighters about 50 minutes to
extinguish the blaze, he said. More than 2,000 square feet was destroyed,
with preliminary damage estimates in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One firefighter received minor injuries, but officials said she will be
okay.
The mansion is more than 40 years old and survived both the Old Fire last
year and the Panorama fire in 1980.
Alder said the department has heard reports that Hagar, the lead vocalist
for the rock group Van Halen, owns the house.
Arson investigators are on the scene trying to determine the cause of the
fire.
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