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Firefighters responded to a structure fire at 5:19 a.m. Wednesday morning at 954 Danville Blvd. in Alamo, in the Danala Farms neighborhood.

The fire was consuming a historic house that had been moved to this location from Orchard Court in Alamo. The house, built around 1893, had been undergoing major remodeling and was approximately two months from completion, according to reports from the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District.

The 4,000-square-foot home was 75 percent in flames upon arrival of fire crews. Three engines, two ladder trucks and one paramedic responded to the call for a total of 20 personnel. The fire was under control by 5:53 a.m.

The man who owns the house and his daughter were staying downstairs during the renovations and they were awakened by the fire. They were able to get out safely, and there were no injuries.

Original structure damage estimates were set at $1 million and content damages at $100,000.

Preliminary reports said the fire may have been caused by temporary electrical equipment being used on the second floor while renovations were being done.

Alamo historian Virgie Jones remembers when the Humburg family lived in the house at 24 Orchard Court. It was built for August Humburg and his bride Alice Annie Stone as a three-story Queen Anne Victorian soon after they were married in 1893.

"It was Aunt Annie Humburg's home," Jones said. "She was 'Aunt Annie' to a lot of us. They were part of the Stone family; my mother-in-law was a Stone."

The house was moved south on Danville Boulevard in the late 1980s to Danala Farms, along with another home that went to Gurney Lane. It was owned at the time by John and Barbara Conrad.

"The Conrads served mimosas and donuts on the original location before they left," Jones recalled. "It took a long time to move the houses. There were a lot of obstacles."

Jones, 90, said she was in the car directly behind the houses as they traveled down Danville Boulevard.

She said the new owners were adding a second story to the old house, a bedroom suite.

"They'd been working on it for ages," she said.

The cause of yesterday's fire is still under investigation.

— Dolores Fox Ciardelli

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