Blaze Destroys 20 Antique Tractors at Museum in Vista; Arson Is Hinted

A fire swept through a historic turn-of-the-century barn at a Vista museum early Thursday, gutting the building and destroying 20 antique tractors, fire officials said.

The fire at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, 2040 N. Santa Fe Ave., started shortly after midnight, and the alarm was called in by a caretaker who lives on the property. There were no injuries reported in the blaze, and damage was estimated at $100,000 to $200,000.

The cause of the blaze had not been determined, but investigators refused to rule out arson.

“It may have been deliberate,” Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Dawson said. “Someone may have thrown a flammable liquid on the equipment to start it, but because the equipment itself contained gasoline which may have leaked during the fire, it would be hard for us to tell unless there were other indicators for arson.”

All of the equipment had been restored to working condition and was used in demonstrations.

Firefighters were hampered by inadequate waterlines and hydrants on the property, Dawson said, adding that fire officials had recommended several times before that the museum install a sprinkler system and fire-detection equipment.

The museum had neither, but Dawson said the museum is not legally required to have them.

“We had told them in the past that they did not have adequate lines and hydrants to fight a fire,” Dawson said. “In view of what has happened, we will again recommend that they install at least a detection system, but more importantly, sprinklers in all of the buildings.”

The barn was one of six buildings on the site that make up the museum. Other buildings not damaged in the fire were a blacksmith shop, two metal buildings for storage, a farmhouse and a small train depot.

Lambert J. Ninteman, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, said the museum was planning to put in larger waterlines before the fire occurred but had not yet received city approval.

The museum has been at its present site, on land leased from the San Diego County Guajome Lake Regional Park, for about 11 years, and its twice-yearly farm-demonstration shows have become a popular North County attraction.

Heather Johnson, a museum volunteer, said many of the items lost were the only ones of their kind. One of the tractors dated from 1918, and others dated from the ‘20s and ‘30s.

Besides the tractors, items destroyed were a threshing machine, a corn picker, a harvester, a combine and a brewery wagon owned by a museum member who used his Clydesdale horses to pull the wagon during farm shows.

“It is quite a loss,” Johnson said. “We didn’t realize the magnitude at first, but it’s a heavy loss.”