Firefighter will be OK after smoke inhalation in Foothill Road fire

A firefighter suffered smoke inhalation while battling a house fire at 450 Foothill Road on Monday morning.

The fire was reported at 8:30 a.m. after neighbors noticed smoke coming from the home.

East Fork Fire investigator Terry Taylor estimated damage to the 1,687-square-foot home at $125,000 and its contents at $50,000.

East Fork Fire Marshal Steve Eisele, who was incident commander on the fire, said the weather was the biggest fight.

"We had to drive out there in a snowstorm," he said. "It took us quite a bit of time to get out there."

Fortunately, there was an engine in the vicinity for another call available to join Sheridan Acres firefighters on the scene.

"When they went to the scene, they found the house well-involved," Eisele said. "There was probably a third to a half of the structure on fire."

The first engine ran a line behind the house and firefighters began knocking down the fire in the main living area. When there were enough people at the fire, a second engine ran a hose to the front door to fight the fire inside the home.

No one was in the house when the fire started.

While fighting the fire inside the home, a firefighter suffered smoke inhalation.

"He was treated on scene, and then taken to the medical center, where he was evaluated and released," Eisele said. "He didn't suffer any longlasting effects."

Given the difficulty of the terrain and weather conditions, Eisele said it was surprising there weren't other injuries.

"Between not being able to see where you could walk, and the ice, and the structure being compromised, we're very fortunate we didn't have a building collapse, nobody fell in a hole and no one slipped and fell," he said. "NDOT ran a snowplow down Foothill for us to help plow the road. I'm glad we didn't slide a piece of equipment off the road."

Overall, Eisele said the operation went fairly well.

"It was a good operation," he said. "We had knockdown fairly soon after arriving on scene. We were very fortunate that it all went well, especially with the conditions."

He said the entire home suffered extensive damage and probably won't be salvageable.

The fire was knocked down and firefighters were looking for hotspots at 9:52 a.m.

The home was formerly owned by Carson Valley native Kenneth Hellwinkel. The present owner is Larissa Works.

Taylor said the fire started in the fireplace chimney, allowing the fire to smolder in the trusses, until it ignited in the attic.

The top floor of the home received severe fire and smoke damage. Lower parts of the home had smoke and water damage.

Firefighters from Minden, Genoa, Sheridan, Gardnerville, Johnson Lane, the Ranchos and Tahoe-Douglas responded to the blaze.