Fire forces third family in two weeks out of home

Matt Vineis, 18, was playing video games Monday night at his family's Toler Lane home when he smelled plastic burning.

Suddenly, he was alerted by a neighbor that there was an orange glow visible in his sister's bedroom window at the home at 1369 Toler Lane in Gardnerville.

"I had no idea what was going on," he said. "Me and my dad were home by ourselves when the fire broke out about 8:40 p.m."

James Jewell was visiting a neighbor when he noticed the glow at the front window.

Jewell pounded on the door and then he and Matt hooked up the garden hose and started pouring water through the front window, said East Fork Fire Investigator Terry Taylor.

Christopher Vineis kicked in the door to his daughter's bedroom, found the bed on fire, and evacuated the house.

Firefighters from Gardnerville, Minden and the Gardnerville Ranchos responded to the blaze, which was quickly extinguished. The Red Cross put the family of five up in a motel.

It was the third house fire in two weeks. Two separate fires on April 29 and April 30 destroyed homes in the Ranchos and Bodie Flats.

Taylor said the fire caused smoke damage throughout the house, but there was no structural damage and it didn't extend out of the front bedroom.

He believed two lint fires that started three hours earlier were caused by spontaneous combustion.

Taylor blamed the fire in Elizabeth's bedroom on a fan electrical cord plugged in next to her bed. Early investigation indicates the fire smoldered in a pile of laundry on her bed before the mattress caught on fire.

"She lost everything," Matt said.

Taylor estimated damage at $45,000-50,000 for the house and contents.

"They have some renters' insurance, but they are going to need help," Taylor said. "Most of the 14-year-old's stuff is gone."

Matt said the family had lived in the rental for 31⁄2 years.

n News Editor Sheila Gardner contributed to this story.