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Fire Officials Search Rubble for Cause of $3-Million Mission Bay Blaze at Camp

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The fast-burning fire that consumed a large boat storage building on a Mission Bay campground is under investigation, fire officials said Wednesday.

The Tuesday-night fire caused an estimated $3 million in damage to boats and the 24,000-square-foot warehouse at Campland on the Bay, in the 2200 block of Pacific Beach Drive, Fire Capt. Al Macdonald said.

Macdonald said the Metro Arson Strike team was investigating the fire by going through the rubble and interviewing people in the area.

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About 60 vessels ranging in size from 24-foot cruisers to jet skis were lost, along with about 30 recreational vehicles. There were no injuries.

“All of the boats belonged to monthly renters, and Campland is notifying them today in case they haven’t heard,” said Bernie Rhinerson, a spokesman for the facility.

Besides being used for boat storage, the building was the site of boat repairs and contained solvents, gasoline, propane and paint materials, Macdonald said.

The fire was allowed to burn itself out so that the chemicals’ toxicity would burn away rather than wash into Mission Bay, which laps against the campground, Macdonald said.

“It was safer to let it burn,” Macdonald said. “It was safer for the bay and also for the firefighters, and, if we were going to save anything, it was water.”

He said the decision to let it burn was made after it was determined that the structure and the contents had already been lost.

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When firefighters arrived at the scene seven minutes after being called, the storage building was fully engulfed and it burned quickly. Macdonald said the building’s construction, similar to a barn with many bare wooden beams, and the fiberglass boats contributed to the quickness with which the fire burned.

He said that eventually the structure, with the boats inside, collapsed and continued burning.

Fire officials said 50 firefighters and 12 units were called to the scene, including a hazardous materials team and lifeguard units, who helped fight the fire from fire boats.

Macdonald said that, by 2 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters had completed their mop-up efforts.

Firefighters faced several problems during the blaze, Macdonald said, including power lines that carried 2,400 volts of electricity from a nearby transformer that had burned and fallen.

In addition, they showered water on a large 1,000-gallon propane tank to prevent it from exploding.

During the fire they also had to relay water with pumps, Macdonald said.

“On the south side there was a hydrant about 200 feet away, but on the north side, the hydrant was about a quarter-mile away, and we had to bring water in,” he said. They used pumps capable of carrying up to 1,000 gallons of water.

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Rhinerson said the fire was limited to the boat storage area and added that otherwise the campgrounds, with facilities for motor homes, trailers and tents, is operating smoothly.

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