Man Found Dead in Burning Sonoma County Home

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A 71-year-old man was found dead in a burned single-family home west of Santa Rosa on Wednesday morning, a Windsor and Rincon Valley Fire Protection District fire investigator said.

The man, whose name has not been released, lived alone in the single-story home in the 500 block of Duer Road, fire investigator Cyndi Foreman said.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, but it likely was electrical in nature, Foreman said.

The man's body was found in the kitchen area, and the origin of the fire was in a wall between the kitchen and living room. Damage is estimated between $500,000 and $600,000, and the home, built in 1964, is a total loss, Foreman said.

The roof of the house was covered in flames when firefighters from the Sebastopol Fire Department arrived around 5:15 a.m., Windsor Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Gustafson said.

The owner of the house died in 2016, and the house had a reverse mortgage and was under foreclosure, Foreman said.

One of the owner's sons was living in the home but it is not certain if he was the man who died in the fire, Foreman said.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office will release the victim's name.

By Bay City News Service

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