Two suspected home arson fires - including one that destroyed a house within a half mile of the recently closed Lathrop-Manteca Fire Department station in rural South Manteca - caused losses in excess of $500,000 Saturday morning.

The two raging residential fires broke out minutes apart shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday and tapped fire resources from Lathrop-Manteca, Manteca, Tracy and Ripon fire departments, according to Lathrop-Manteca Fire Chief Gene Neeley.

Neeley coined the fires as being “suspicious in nature” with the first and the largest structure on Oleander Avenue being fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene.  Chief Neeley said the two-story Oleander home had probably been burning nearly an hour before a passerby made the 911 call.  Its roof completely caved in, the fire left only a shell of the prized structure with its once extensive landscaping.

When firemen arrived they were also faced with a two acre weed fire that was caused by flames from the house, Neeley said.

The fire was a short distance from the Lathrop-Manteca fire station at Union and Veritas roads that has been shuttered due to district revenue shortfalls that forced the layoff of firefighters.

The second fire alarm sounded within five minutes of the first with engines rushing to Schilling Avenue near Avon in Lathrop where firefighters found a single story home’s interior engulfed in flames.

The Schilling Avenue fire brought a joint response from Lathrop-Manteca’s Station 31, Department of Defense engines from Sharpe Depot and French Camp firefighters.  Both fires were in abandoned homes.  Schilling sustained an estimated $100,000 in losses while Oleander was seen to have been valued at $400,000.

The departments fighting the Oleander fire included Lathrop-Manteca, Manteca, Tracy and Ripon through their mutual aid agreements.

Lathrop Battalion Chief Chester Smith, serving as incident commander,  said he believed the original cost of the two story home was about $750,000 when it was constructed within the last 10 years.

There were no residences close in proximity, Neeley said, with people who might have noticed the fire when it first broke out.  He also noted that when the Station 31 crew was out of bed on the first alarm and assigned to man their water tanker, the second set of tones alerted them to the fire in Lathrop.  Neeley lauded them for a two-minute response time to the Schilling’s blaze.

On the Oleander fire alone there was a total of 21 firefighters and five trucks, Chief Neeley said.  Since there were no hydrants in the area, water tank trucks were put into service from Lathrop and from the Ripon Consolidated Fire Department.

Since the two-story home on Oleander was fully involved when firemen arrived,  Neeley said firefighters had to address the blaze in a defensive mode while the Schilling fire was an aggressive attack.  On Oleander there was concern about the two acres of weeds reaching nearby structures with fire personnel addressing two fronts.

Rural residents that live near the Oleander fire scene told of bicycle riding men apparently from Manteca who they stay stripped much of the copper from the vacated home.  They were also quoted as saying many of the cabinets had been taken out of the structure.

While the home was enclosed by a wrought iron fence, they said it was difficult for the area Neighborhood Watch to keep trespassers off of the property.

There were no firefighters injured in fighting either blaze.  They were on the scene until about 12:30 p.m. Saturday.