SAN DIEGO — The ashes are cold but there's still danger at the site of a fire that destroyed a downtown San Diego warehouse. The potential danger includes, the possibly that the building could collapse, lithium batteries inside could explode and send deadly cyanide gas into the air.
The investigation into finding the cause moves slowly, as a result, as the owner confers with San Diego County HazMat to safely clear the lot.
The three-alarm blaze was called in at 4:30 Wednesday morning near Market Street and 14th Street, as the VIP Pedicabs Red Barn warehouse was engulfed in flames.
San Diego Deputy Fire Chief for Operations Dan Eddy was on scene that morning and said:
"Initially, when our first crews got on scene, this thing was ripping stem to stern, so it was goin' pretty good!"
Lithium batteries for the pedicabs were exploding, intensifying the danger. No major injuries resulted, however one person was treated for burns and a firefighter suffered a shoulder injury.
Several dozen people living in the adjacent Potiker Senior Residence were evacuated due to both fire danger and toxic fumes. They were allowed to return home a few hours later.
Fire investigators have been kept outside and there are many questions still to answered.
Deputy Chief Eddy told CBS 8 that they’re:
“Also looking at the building itself, back permits, what occurred, was anybody on scene? So more exteriorly than interiorly. So on the investigation from MAST, we need to get inside and find the origin of cause, for sure."
A drone was deployed to make sure no one was trapped inside, and will return to check for smoke or other issues, as concerns about those batteries continues.
“At this point the batteries are fine to be inside that structure but we don't give permits for the individual battery you put in an electric bicycle or some sore of electric vehicle that you have," said Eddy.
Questions have been raised about the make-up and storage of those lithium batteries. Again, the building is red-tagged with no entry allowed.
"That's all speculation at this point because we haven't made it inside the structure," said Eddy.
Firefighters are focusing on the dangers of these new individual vehicle batteries more each day.
"They worry us a lot. I'll be dead honest; they worry us a lot," added Eddy.
About 40 pedicab drivers are now out of work and their bikes are heavily damaged or destroyed with several GoFundMe pages appearing online.
The site, meanwhile, may not be cleared for entry for another week.
Firefighters remain on alert.
"We have a fire-watch in place where we have an engine come by every two hours, cause the batteries will self-combust at time, too," continued Eddy.
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