The Oroville Mercury Register
CHICO, Calif. — One person is in custody following an alleged arson fire that happened Sunday morning in a home on Revere Lane.
At about 9:29 a.m., Wayne Miller, one of three tenants who was home at the time, reported hearing multiple smoke alarms activate in the three-bedroom home at 2708 Revere Lane, Chico fire inspector Marie Fickert said. Miller searched the home and discovered a fire burning in his roommate’s upstairs bedroom. He retrieved a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the blaze.
At the same time that Miller discovered the fire, an alert neighbor living across the street called 9-1-1 to report that smoke was visible from an upstairs bedroom, Fickert said.
Units from Chico Fire and Cal Fire-Butte County responded to help put out the fire.
Following an investigation, the fire was deemed arson based on the cause and origin, Fickert said. Chico Police arrested a suspect, but Fickert declined to disclose the suspect’s identity.
A call to the Police Department was not returned by deadline.
No injuries were reported. Miller’s other two roommates were not home at the time. The fire caused an estimated $500 in property damage to the home and $150 in contents damage.
Fickert credited working smoke alarms for keeping the damage at minimum. The home had multiple hardwired interconnected smoke alarms with battery backup, which meant that if one alarm went off they would all go off.
Incidents such as this one highlight the importance of having working smoke alarms inside buildings, Fickert said.
“Smoke alarms are your first line of defense in a structure fire,” she said. “It provides early alert so you can get out when the fire is still small.”
This is the third upstairs fire that the department has responded to in a week, Fickert said.
Last Sunday a structure fire on Nord Avenue forced residents to jump from a second-story apartment window. On Thursday residents from three different units at the Paradise Apartments on West Sacramento Avenue escaped after a fire broke out in an upstairs unit.
While none of the incidents are connected, and in this case no one had to jump from the house, Fickert said the other lesson to be learned, aside from having working smoke alarms, is that those living in upstairs units or multi-story homes should be equipped with means of second-story escape, such as a ladder.
Fickert also said this incident does not appear to be related to any previous arson fires that had occurred earlier in the summer.
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