SPFD, VCFD fight stubborn tractor trailer fire
in South Mountain area
March 28, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula Times A fire described as a nuisance although potentially dangerous proved to be a stubborn blaze that was handled early Tuesday by Santa Paula and Ventura County fire fighters.
According to Santa Paula Fire Captain Jerry Byrum, the fire was reported at 12:51 a.m. March 25 in the 17000 block of South Mountain-Lemon Company Road, across the 12th Street Bridge.
Byrum said the fire was located “About a mile down,” the road, “a little bit east and opposite of the new paintball place,” on property that was formerly occupied by a small golf center.
Upon arrival fire fighters found that a detached tractor trailer approximately 30-feet long and about 11-feet wide was on fire, the result of a “warming fire” that spread to plastic piping.
“There was a lot of piping,” said Byrum and, “By the time we got there the piping had burned... what was on fire was the tires on the trailer and its contents.”
Two engines from Santa Paula Fire and Ventura County Fire, whose jurisdiction the property was in, knocked down the fire in about 15 minutes.
But, noted Byrum, “There was a lot of overhaul... every time we’d pull stuff out of the trailer we’d find something else on fire.”
And there was plenty to burn: “Think of the trailer as a garage full of stuff,” said Byrum, “Then double it.”
Later, fire fighters noticed that a Conex storage box that had not initially shown any signs of fire was singed, and was found to have a fire inside the unit that fire fighters were able to extinguish quickly.
Byrum said the Conex box was also being used for storage but, “Mostly for tools and supplies,” apparently used for repair and maintenance of vehicles parked on the property that also held several other Conex boxes.
“The scene of the fire was off the roadway, off in an orchard next to a house,” areas that are often found to be “really cluttered,” which could have helped the blaze spread rapidly especially in an isolated area.
In fact, Byrum said the fire was reported by a Vintage Petroleum oil worker “On South Mountain who saw the fire and reported it,” before he drove down the mountainside to check company storage tanks to make sure they were not involved.
Byrum said the cause of the fire was “accidental due to a warming fire,” and Ventura County Fire is finalizing the investigation.
A “rough, rough estimate of the damage was about $10,000 to the storage units” and their contents.
In all, Byrum said the 16 fire fighters from the two departments were involved in the firefight that “we didn’t wrap up until 3:30 a.m. It was just a long night for a nuisance fire.”
Although the incident was finally over Byrum said Santa Paula Fire Fighters weren’t done: “Since this fire,” he said Tuesday mid-afternoon, “starting at 4 a.m. we had 10 calls... “
