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Photo by: Ole Braatelien, Glendale, Ariz. (October 19, 2021/The Voice).

Palm tree mentioned by Captain Losch

GLENDALE, Ariz. – It was about 11:15 p.m. Monday night, when Craig Bernhardt and his wife Lisa heard a loud pounding at the door. It was a police officer. “Get out of your home, your neighbor’s house is on fire.”

The owner of the burning house was Linda Clubb, a 70-year-old woman, who neighbors say used a walker.

“We know the lady. She’s disabled and has a hard time taking care of the house, so we do what we can to help her,” said Craig Bernhardt, Clubb’s next door neighbor. “Linda had said she was cooking some fries in her kitchen then left the room. When she came back, the whole kitchen was engulfed. She managed to get out but we don’t know if her little dog did. She also had some cats, but we don’t know if they made it out either.”

Glendale Fire Department later confirmed the blaze started as a kitchen fire.

Bernhardt said that when he stepped out of his house there were about 2 or 3 firetrucks in the cul-de-sac.  From the time he went outside, it was about 20 minutes before the fire was out. The street was crowded with nearby residents, and by the end of the incident there were seven to eight fire and police trucks.

Video by: Craig Bernhardt, Glendale, Ariz. (October 18, 2021).

“Glendale Fire Department dispatched trucks at 11:08 p.m. The resident was treated on-scene for smoke inhalation but did not require further transport,” said Captain Ashley Losch, of Glendale Fire Department. “The fire extended to the back patio and a palm tree adjacent to the home. They attacked the fire from the inside and out; it was a very hot fire because it was a slump block home. Imagine the heat of a brick oven as an analogy.”

Bernhardt also said he saw two firemen on the roof of Clubb’s house.

“They were performing ventilation to relieve some of the heat and smoke from the internal crews who were doing a search and firefight,” Losch said.

Losch also added that three of the firefighters did sustain minor burns and were taken to the hospital but are now home and recovering. Clubb’s white dog was located later but the current state of the dog is not known.

Bernhardt’s house, as well as the other house adjacent to Clubb’s, were not damaged by the fire.

The house was just a couple miles east of Glendale Community College, between Olive and Northern.

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Video by: Craig Bernhardt, Glendale, Ariz. (October 18, 2021).