Fire at Castro Valley home sparked by space heater

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. (BCN) - A fire that burned a Castro Valley home this morning was sparked by a space heater, fire officials said.

The blaze broke out shortly before 6 a.m., when the heater caught fire in the living room on the first floor of the two-story house, Alameda County Fire Department spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said.

Two dogs perished in the one-alarm fire, and a man who lives there suffered second-degree burns while trying to extinguish flames with a garden hose, Knowles said.

The man was treated and released from a hospital. 

Two others at the home, a woman and an infant, safely escaped before fire crews arrived. Working smoke alarms alerted the residents to the blaze, Knowles said.