Fire damages Carson Valley home

MINDEN -- Flames shooting from the roof of a Johnson Lane home Wednesday night could be seen from all over Carson Valley.

Owner Shawn Williams said escrow had just closed on the home at 1714 Hoid Road on Tuesday.

The Carson Valley native said he was stripping the walls in preparation for painting and had just got all the exterior lights working.

"I just turned on the lights before I left," he said.

Witnesses at the scene said Williams had been gone for about five minutes when the fire broke out.

Williams said he and his wife live in a Gardnerville apartment and had just closed the deal for the 3,720-square-foot, two-story home.

"I was keeping up the lawn while waiting for escrow to close," he said. "My Realtor called me to tell me the house was on fire. We hoped it wasn't ours."

Williams, a 1990 graduate of Douglas High School, described the scene to the home to his wife over a cell phone as firefighters worked to put out the fire.

Charred boards that made up the home's upper southern exposure could be seen in the lights set up by firefighters to look for hot spots in the still-smoking home.

Neighbors spotted the fire in the attic of the home and called it in at 9:30 p.m.

Flames could still be seen in the night sky at 10:15 p.m.

Firefighters had to set up a canvas reservoir for water to fight the blaze.

Williams said his tools and lawn mower were in the home, but not much else.

"It's a good thing we didn't move anything in yet," he said.

The home was built in 1972 and was located at the top of Hoid Road, just south of Johnson Lane.

"The view from the second story is incredible," Williams said. "You can see the whole valley."

Volunteer firefighters from all over Carson Valley responded to the fire.