Fire Burns 3-Car Garage on Virginia Avenue

Explosions from a burning garage rang through the Virginia Avenue neighborhood near downtown Novato on Thursday evening during a two-alarm blaze in which nobody was hurt, fire official said.

A three-car garage at 1820 Virginia Ave., sandwiched between a home at 1820 and a home at 1816, was fully engulfed when engines arrived at 7:44 p.m., six minutes after an emergency call was made, said Battalion Chief Jeff Veliquette.

Eight engines pulled up at the location, just a few yards west of , and the fire was under control at 7:54 p.m., Veliquette said.

There were eight people inside the home at 1820 Virginia when firefighters arrived, Veliquette said.

"Our first action was to get them out of the back of the house and then attack the garage on the other side of the house," he said.

Firefighters dragged firehoses up a 75-yard driveway to reach the garage, and another engine used a neighbor's driveway to get closer to the blaze and pour on the water, Veliquette said.

Several large trees were within a few feet of the garage, and firefighters said they were happy they didn't catch fire. Several windows in the front of 1820 Virginia cracked because of the heat of the fire.

Three investigators started work to determine the cause of the fire shortly after the flames were extinguished. Veliquette said it was too early to determine what caused the explosions, but he said there were several pressured cylinders inside the garage.

Novato Fire received assistance from the Marinwood and San Rafael departments covering other Novato stations as the fire was fought.

For coverage of the fire by the , click here.