Neighbors Flee 3-Alarm Midtown Fire That Burned Century-Old Victorian Home
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A three-alarm fire ripped through a historic home in Midtown Sacramento on Friday, forcing neighbors to evacuate.
Many people we spoke to near the fire on the corner of 13th and F streets say they woke up to flames and smoke.
Danielle Gutierrez was getting ready for work in her Midtown home on Friday morning when she looked out her bathroom window.
"I immediately saw the house next door," she said. "The wall was completely engulfed. It was lit up."
As her neighbor's Victorian home was slowly being claimed by the flames, she ran to the back of her house.
"My back stairs were lit up," she said.
Her home was on fire, too. She grabbed her little dog, Honzo, and tried to wake up neighbors in the building.
"I pounded on the door to make sure everybody got out and just grabbed my dog and made my way out," she said.
The home dates back to the 1880s.
A 98-year-old woman who moved into the other Victorian home more than 60 years ago was rescued by neighbors.
"I was sitting there and started saying my prayers," Margaret said. "I had just got up and somebody started knocking on my door saying, 'Come on, come on, Margaret, Hurry up, hurry up.'"
Gutierrez's father is a contractor, and hopes the building's bones are still good.
"As far as what they told us the downstairs is OK," said Norberto Gutierrez. "The upstairs is pretty much gone."
Investigators say it will take days to find the cause of the morning fire.