A lit cigarette likely started a fire that destroyed a home in Arroyo Grande, causing damages estimated at $500,000, fire officials said Tuesday.

An elderly woman and her dogs escaped uninjured shortly before 8 p.m. Monday when the flames began consuming one of two homes in the 200 block of Ridgeview Way, said Capt. Steve Whitney of the Arroyo Grande Fire Department.

Firefighters found the home engulfed in flames - one neighbor said it was visible from Corbett Canyon Road - destroying the 80-year-old house and all of its contents, Whitney said. The second home was not affected by the fire, he added.

The elderly woman, Sally White, is a long-time resident of the block, according to neighbor Ruben Flores, 66.

Damage was estimated at $500,000 because the woman had a lot of antiques inside the home, Whitney said.

“I thought it was my house that was burning down,” Flores said, explaining that as he was driving home when he saw a tall column of flame shooting into the dark sky.

“It was probably hundreds of feet high,” he recalled.

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Another neighbor, Cathy Midyett, said she heard a rumbling sound - like a metal box being dragged on asphalt - shortly before 8 p.m.

“My renter said she heard some yelling,” Midyett said.

Flores said he also heard a boom sound and speculated that it was likely the White's oxygen tank.

Whitney said the fire was likely accidental and that it was likely caused by a “smoking device” or a cigarette in one of the bedrooms.

It took several hours for firefighters to fully control the fire, although much of the house had already burned by the time firefighters arrived, Whitney said.

Flores commended the Fire Department for being prepared and preventing the fire from spreading to nearby homes, including his.

“There were fire engines all over the block,” he said. “And the water pressure is so low here that they brought like three pumps to get enough water to fight the fire.”

Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or lgomez@santamariatimes.com.

September 26, 2007