A Menlo Park Fire Captain sustained moderate burns in a house fire after the roof he was standing on gave out as the attic burned beneath him, late Friday.
The Fire Captain, a seasoned veteran with the Fire District, had just guided a Probationary Firefighter as he cut a square ventilation hole in the roof of the residence, located on Nassau Drive near the Menlo Park-Atherton border. The Captain stepped across the top ridge of the building's roof holding a pole he was using to check the structural integrity of the roof when he felt the area under him get "spongy." He quickly advised Probationary Firefighter Carlos Carpenter to immediately get off the roof, when without warning, the roof gave way.