$100,000 Estimated Damage to Garage and Contents

Oceanside CA— A fire destroyed a three car garage and damaged two classic vehicles stored inside late Wednesday night. One of the residents at 1021 South Clementine smelled smoke just before 11pm Wednesday night and went to the garage to investigate. When he arrived, he saw smoke pouring from the garage, quickly went back inside the house to alert the other two residents to evacuate and called 9-1-1.

A full structure response was dispatched and the first unit arrived on scene 5 minutes later to find heavy smoke coming from the front and rear of the detached garage. Fire crews quickly pulled hose lines to the front of the garage and took up positions to keep the fire from spreading to the house. Once they had sufficient personnel on scene, crews were able to make access through a side door and encountered very high heat and heavy smoke conditions. The fire crews initially advanced hose lines inside the garage but had to back out when it was determined the tile deck built upon the top of the garage was sagging after the lightweight floor joists had burned nearly through. The fire was brought under control just a bit less than 20 minutes after the first unit arrived on scene.
An Investigator with the Oceanside Fire Department responded to the scene in order to determine the cause and origin of the fire. He spoke with the residents, but was only able to look inside the burned garage from a distance due to the collapse hazard. He will be returning Thursday morning to complete the investigation after the roof top deck is braced and secured. According to one of the residents, he had been working in the garage up until a couple of hours before the fire started. Damage has been estimated at $100,000, split evenly between the structure and the contents.
The two classic vehicles being stored in the garage for a friend, a Thunderbird and a Model A, suffered significant damage. Approximately $400,000 worth of additional damage to the house and contents was prevented by the aggressive work of the responding personnel.
Mutual Aid provide by Vista and Carlsbad Fire Departments.