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Berkeley firefighters were forced to summon assistance from Oakland, Albany and Alameda County to battle a Tuesday night blaze that nearly destroyed a dwelling at 2811 Stuart St.  

The fire, ignited by spontaneous combustion of tarps being used by painters staining the exterior of the recently remodeled home, did $600,000 in damage to the structure and $250,000 in damages to the contents, said Acting Fire Chief David Orth. 

Fire spread from the tarps to the walls and roofs, and once the flames reached the interior, fighting them became difficult because of so-called “balloon” construction, which doesn’t provide fire barriers in interior ceilings, Orth said. 

An additional complication was the two-story dwelling’s location at the end of a cul de sac with utility wires, preventing the use of a ladder truck to fight flames on the roof. 

“We had to pull our firefighters off the roof and fight the flames from below after they spread through the attic,” Orth said. 

Exhausted by the heat and the intensity of the blaze, Berkeley crews were forced to call in outside aid. One Berkeley firefighter suffering from heat exhaustion was transported to a local hospital for emergency room treatment, said the chief. 

The fire started at 10:30 p.m., and it wasn’t until five-and-a-half hours later that the last of the flames were extinguished, he said. The roof was destroyed, and there was significant damage to both floors. 

The blaze left six people temporarily homeless, the owners and one child from the second floor and three UC students who rented rooms on the ground floor. 

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