SPFD: Palm trees catch fire in Kmart parking lot, cause under investigation
February 10, 2016
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Fire put out a blaze in a grove of palm trees early Saturday morning, a fire outside a local department store that a SPFD spokesman said the cause of which is still being investigated.
According to SPFD Captain John Harber, the blaze was reported about 12:30 a.m. in the 800 block of Faulkner Road, in the “Huge Kmart parking lot on the north end of the lot.”
SPFD Engine 82 was first in followed by SPFD Engine 81; Ventura County Fire also responded to the fire that was burning more than a dozen palm trees.
Although the fire was knocked down in a matter of minutes, “We were out there past 3 a.m.” to make sure there were no hot spots and housing on the other side of the block wall was secure.
Harber said, “We (Engine 81) were on the parking lot side and Engine 82 was on the north side protecting the homes in the area back there…the fire was being pushed by the wind,” towards the residences.
It was reported that a power line was down in the residential area next to the fire but it is unknown if it was the cause of the blaze or resulted from same.
A Southern California Edison work crew responded to the scene to deal with the power line.
“There were power lines running the entire length of the palm trees,” but Harber said Ventura County Fire Investigators are working to try to determine the exact cause of the fire.
There were no injuries resulting from the fire and no structures were reported to be damaged.
