Teri Figueroa – The San Diego Union-Tribune
Crews doused two unrelated fires at Oceanside businesses less than half a mile from each other — including suspected arson at a downtown movie theater.
The first call was at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, a report of a fire in a drainage pipe at the Regal Oceanside on Mission Avenue a few blocks from the city’s pier, Oceanside Fire Department said in a news release.
Crews arrived within five minutes to find fire in the pipe and smoke billowing from the roof. Theater employees — there were no patrons at the time — cleared out of the building before firefighters arrived, a fire official said.
“Fire worked its way into the building and extended into an interior storage room,” the department said, adding that quick work by the fire crews kept damage to the interior at a minimum. Fire officials did not say if anyone was inside the theater at the time.
The initial investigation indicates that the fire had been “intentionally started” in a plastic drainage pipe on the building’s exterior, fire officials said. No suspects have been identified.
Then just after 1 a.m. Thursday, someone called to report smoke billowing from the roof of American Tire Depot on North Coast Highway near Surfrider Way, the fire department said in a separate news release.
Crews arrived within three minutes, soon forcing their way inside the front door to get to the fire. One team cut a ventilation hole in the roof. A fire captain noticed a heating and air-conditioning unit on the roof was beginning to sag, and firefighters were ordered to clear out of the building.
Firefighters kept the fire contained to the lobby. Department officials said it appears the fire started in the roof.
“A possible electrical wiring failure is being investigated. However, other causes have not yet been ruled out,” the agency said.
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