The blaze on Rose Blossom Drive that broke out around 8:30 this morning destroyed the home of Kevin and Lydia Moore, and their four children.
The fire started in the garage, the source of which is still under investigation, but arson is not at this point believed to be involved, said Jeremy Davis, arson investigator for the .
Lydia Moore said no one was at home at the time of the fire.
She left the house at 8:25 a.m. to take her daughter to school at Lincoln Elementary School when the crossing guard asked Moore where she lived because the crossing guard said there was a home nearby on fire. Moore said she saw the smoke but believed it was coming from a different direction.
Moore called to report a fire and was told it was coming from Rose Blossom Drive, but said she didn’t believe that was the case until she got closer to home and realized that it was her house that was on fire.
She called her husband, Kevin, who was on his way to work, to tell him to turn around and come home because their garage was engulfed in flames.
A neighbor told Lydia Moore that they heard a “loud explosion” and a popping noise coming from the Moore home about the time the fire broke out.
In the driveway were two cars that belonged to the Moores; one was purchased in January with money that Lydia Moore’s mother had given them just before she died that month “because she wanted us to have a safe car,” Moore says.
The other car was their “old car” that they were planning on donating to the Polly Klaas Foundation. Both cars were left with nothing but grayish-colored hollowed-out shells with little more than wires and frame by the time firefighters got the blaze under control at 9:40 a.m.
The newly purchased car was fully insured, but because they had planned to donate the older car the couple had reduced the coverage on the insurance.
Mike Jordan, the neighbor across the street from the Moore home, said the smoke coming from the fire was “full of toxicity” and “density.”
Embers from the inferno floated up and over Jordan’s home to a neighboring condominium complex where two units also caught fire. Jordan had two garden hoses and a ladder ready in his backyard which firefighters used to help douse that fire.
That fire never went beyond the roof, Davis said.
The fire that destroyed the Moore home consumed the Moore family’s belongings. The house belonged to Kevin’s parents, and Lydia said they assumed that since the family’s home had homeowners insurance that their belongings would be covered so they never considered purchasing renters insurance.
A family friend, Betsy Kernaghan said the Moore’s need to replace everything. She took Lydia to Target in the late morning to purchase “the basics” including things such as a change of clothing for the entire family and diapers for the baby, and that one trip cost $400.
The Moore’s four children are ages 1, 3, 9 and 10. Kernaghan is organizing a fundraiser to help the family replace essentials. Cupertino Patch will provide regular updates and details on where donations can be sent.
