Family Displaced by Kitchen Fire

A family of three will be sleeping elsewhere Wednesday night and possibly a while longer after a kitchen grease fire damanged their condominium in southern Novato, a fire official said.

An emergency call was received at 4:44 p.m. about a structure at 4 Park Crest Court and a crew from ’s Station 61 arrived five minutes later, according to acting Battalion Chief Chris Wikeen. The fire in the single-family, two-story condo was contained to the kitchen, he said.

Wikeen said a mother, daughter and son were outside of the condo when fire crews arrived and found the fire extinguished. The mom had sprayed the downstairs kitchen with a garden hose that was dragged through a sliding door that went out to the backyard, he said.

“With a grease fire, spraying water initially promoted the growth of the fire,” Wikeen said. “You need to use dry chemicals or extinguish it by putting a lid on the pot.” The fire crawled up the wall to the ceiling and was put out by the hose water, he said.

Fire crews didn’t need to spray water on the burned kitchen, but there was considerable damage to appliances, light fixtures, cabinets and walls, he said.

The American Red Cross was called to aid the family. There was no damage estimate available.