A major fire at a home in the 1300 block of Brookdale Way Tuesday afternoon in east Manteca – caused by an unattended idling motorcycle in its garage –  it snaked into the attic and brought subsequent smoke and water damage throughout the living areas.
Brookdale Way is the first east-west street off of Cottage Avenue just south of Louise Avenue.
Manteca Fire Acting Battalion Chief Bill Canfield said a motorist, Chuck Newcomb, called in the 911 alarm shortly after 2 p.m. saying he could see fire and smoke coming from the Suzuki motorcycle while the garage door was still open.  Canfield estimated the loss to the home and its contents at some $200,000.
The homeowner reportedly told firefighters that he had momentarily walked to a neighbor’s home to chat with him.
One fireman, Lantz Rey, received an injury to his leg when one of the motorcycles fell over on him as he was in the garage fighting the fire. He later sought medical treatment for what was described as a minor leg injury after the fire was extinguished.
When firefighters from Manteca and Lathrop companies arrived at the scene, the house appeared to be fully engulfed with smoke coming from its doors and roof vents, witnesses said.
The open garage door had dropped to a closed position when flames burned through its tracking system. Firefighters had to manually remove the door and drag it out into street in front of the home.  A second Suzuki sport-style motorcycle was also lost in the blaze.
Engineer Chris Jones fought off heavy smoke to cut three large vents in the back of the roof to allow smoke to be ventilated out of the structure. Two dogs inside the home were safely removed and taken to the home of friends in the neighborhood.  Firefighters placed protective tarps over some of the furniture in the home.
Canfield who was recently promoted to battalion chief effective Jan. 1 led the fire operation with Captain Nick Hawes who was also recently promoted within the Manteca Fire Department.  Fire crews remained on the scene for several hours in cleanup operations.
The fire took some 30 minutes to contain, Canfield said, with 14 full-time firefighters and five reserves responding to the scene with four engines and one truck along with a Manteca Ambulance unit.