San Luis Obispo Tribune

A woman was hospitalized with burns Wednesday after a fire damaged an Atascadero home.

City fire officials said the blaze was caused by smoking and started in the living room of the Olmeda Avenue home.

The fire, heat and smoke destroyed the contents of the home on the 5200 block of the road, on the east side of Highway 101 north of Traffic Way. The roof and structure of the house appeared to be intact after the fire was extinguished, but city officials red-tagged the building, meaning entry is forbidden.

Firefighters received their first call on the one-alarm fire from neighbors around 10:10 a. m. When they arrived, the fire was concentrated in the living room.

They found the injured woman in the back of the home, according to Atascadero Fire Capt. Tom Peterson. She was burned and was unable to talk to firefighters, he said.

Paramedics put the woman on advanced life support and then sent her by ambulance to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton. Twin Cities officials declined to release information about her condition.

The woman was later transferred to a burn unit at University Medical Center in Fresno. Peterson didn’t know the woman’s exact age but said she appeared to be about 60. It was unknown whether she was a resident or owner of the home.

The department refused to release the woman’s name Wednesday, citing privacy rules in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The single-story, single-family home is in a quiet residential neighborhood. Olmeda Avenue is two blocks east of El Camino Real and runs parallel to it.

The fire destroyed a large picture window in the living room of the home. A charred armchair, springs visible, sat on the lawn near other burned items.

Firefighters found no other people or animals inside the house.

The fire caused about $75,000 in damage to the home and another $25,000 to its contents, according to an estimate from fire officials.

Crews from the Atascadero Fire Department put out the flames in about 15 minutes, but it took much longer to make sure the fire was not smoldering in the walls and furniture. Firefighters from other North County departments were also called out.

The house did not have sprinklers, which would have been required by the city if it were a newer home, Peterson said.

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