Lumberyard Damage Too Extensive to Determine Fire’s Cause, Officials Say

The cause of a $1.3-million fire at a Northridge lumberyard, in an area where more than 25 arson fires were set earlier this week, was unknown Friday because damage was so extensive that there were few clues to what started it, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.

The 9:15 p.m. fire Thursday at the Terry Lumber Co. complex at 18300 Parthenia St. was believed to have started in a small storage shed attached to two larger buildings that were destroyed in the fire, officials said.

Firefighters and Terry employees said small fires had been started outside the shed on the two days before Thursday’s fire. The shed had been used by transients until earlier this week when the area was cleared out after a man who had been stabbed in a fight was found collapsed inside it, employees said.

Investigators were attempting to determine if the fires at the lumberyard were related to the more than 25 arson fires reported in the area on Sunday and Monday, but no evidence had been found linking them, officials said.

In the meantime, police have been alerted and firefighters will continue to mount air and street patrols for the arsonist believed responsible for 25 to 30 rubbish and tree fires set Sunday and Monday nights in the area. No suspect has been identified, but investigators believe the fires were set by the same person or group of individuals.