24/10/05 $500,000 blaze is under investigation

OTAY MESA – A fire that burned through a quarter-acre of wooden pallets on Siempre Viva Road on Wednesday evening caused about $500,000 in damage and remains under investigation.

In addition to the pallets, tires and a motor home burned, and a 1,000-gallon propane gas tank exploded. The fire started at 4:40 p.m.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque said the extent of the damage makes it unlikely a cause will be discovered unless new evidence turns up.

Investigators were back on the site yesterday to talk to workers who were filling the propane tank and welding on the property before the fire, Luque said.
Towering flames consume piles of pallets at a storage yard in Otay Mesa, causing a propane tank to explode and gutting a recreational vehicle parked nearby.

SAN YSIDRO – A fire of undetermined cause burned through a quarter-acre area of stacked wooden pallets at Atlas Pallets yesterday afternoon.

A 1,000-gallon propane gas tank exploded in the blaze and some tires also burned, but no one was injured. About 40 firefighters from San Diego and Chula Vista along with Copter 1, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department helicopter, extinguished the blaze.

Firefighters were called to the scene about 4:40 p.m. on Siempre Viva Road near state Route 905, about a quarter mile from the U.S.-Mexico border. The fire was contained about 7 p.m., said Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque.

Firefighters cooled other propane tanks with water so they did not explode.