Sandra Dodge was up at dawn that morning. "She was up and saw something flickering outside," her husband Paul Pelton said. She looked out her apartment window to see a fire engulfing the two-story wooden house across the street next to Saratoga Elementary School.

Dodge called 911 at around 5 a.m. Within minutes two Saratoga Fire Department engines and two engines from the Santa Clara County Fire Department were on the scene.

"The structure was fully engulfed in flames," Saratoga firefighter Todd Garde said. The first engine captain to arrive was Capt. Brad Pike. Pike called for a second alarm and four more engines from the Santa Clara County Fire Department were sent in.

"It was a very big fire," Saratoga fire investigator Don Olson said. "There was fire coming out of every window, every door. We went into defensive mode right away."

The structure had been boarded up and without residents for quite some time, Garde explained. The firefighters on the scene determined that there was no one inside and concentrated their efforts on preventing the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.

Children coming to school were not a factor that early in the morning, Olson said.

Pelton said he saw a lot of smoke and that the collapse of the roof threw a lot of embers into the air. Firefighters taped the roads off. Their trucks were lined up all the way down Oak Street as they worked to put the fire out. "The fire department did a great job," he said.

The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes with no injuries and no damage to adjacent structures, Garde said. "Extremely charred remains are the only thing left standing."

"It's obvious the house is a total loss," Olson said.

Olson and investigator Jeremy Davis are looking into the cause of the fire in conjunction with Santa Clara County Fire Department investigator Dennis Johnson.

"We haven't ruled out everything yet," Olson said. "It could be a hundred different things. Until we pinpoint the point of origin it's tough to say."

This is not the first time there has been a fire at 20626 Komina Ave. "There was previous fire activity there that was suspicious in origin," Garde said.

Olson said the earlier fire was in May 2004. "It was suspicious. We had an area of origin but we weren't able to determine the exact cause."

Garde said the Saratoga Fire Department gets about one big fire every couple of years. He said the functional merger between the Saratoga Fire Department and the Santa Clara County Fire Department has streamlined procedures allowing for a rapid response to emergencies. "The community is better served by having a multitude of resources right at our fingertips."

For investigators Olson, Davis and Johnson, the legwork and detective work in the search for the cause of the fire on Komina Avenue is now under way.