Family Displaced After Tuesday Blaze in Downtown Novato

A Novato family is pondering next steps after a fire displaced them from their home Tuesday morning.

The fire broke out in the kitchen of the home, in the 1300 block of Kaehler Street, and may have been caused by an overloaded power strip, according to the family. The 10am blaze set off a smoke detector that woke up a 16-year-old girl who was in the home alone.

The girl was able to escape with her five dogs. But when one of the dogs ran into the home, she followed it in an attempt to rescue her pet. At the same time, police arrived and used a garden hose to extinguish the fire. They then pulled the girl out of the home, but could not save one of the dogs.

Novato Fire District Chief Mark Heine said the incident demonstrates that working smoke detectors can prevent serious injury or death. But he warned residents against re-entering a burning building to save a dog or cat.

“While we sympathize with the affection we have for our pets, you are risking your life to enter a burning building,” he said in a statement.

The family is being assisted by the American Red Cross and received a hotel voucher for two nights. But they are worried about where they will go after because they don’t have relatives or friends in the area who can take them in. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” said Diana Quintero, who shares the home with her husband, son and daughter. “A lot of the hotels don’t allow dogs, so we don’t know what we’ll do.”

An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is ongoing, but Quintero said the blaze may have been caused by an overloaded power strip that had the refrigerator, water cooler and a kitchen appliance plugged in.