Massive fire consumes pallets, vehicles at business near Modesto
Firefighters from several departments spent about three hours early Wednesday extinguishing a blaze that threatened a structure and consumed wood pallets, tractor-trailer rigs and more at a business just outside south Modesto.
The initial dispatch to Perez Pallets at 680 Janopaul Ave. was about 12:15 a.m. for reports of a semi truck and pallets on fire, Ceres Fire Department Battalion Chief Bret Presson said at the scene hours later.
Noting the fire’s size, the first crew approaching the scene quickly called for a second alarm, upgrading the call to a working commercial structure fire. That drew a total of seven engines, three trucks and three chief officers, Presson said.
Initially, multiple vehicles and countless pallets were burning on the west side of the property, along railroad tracks. Radiant heat soon caused pallets on the business side, the east side, to catch fire, threatening a building, Presson said.
Early on, there were a couple of explosions, which firefighters narrowed down to likely have been from compressed gas canisters on site, the battalion chief said.
Crews quickly knocked down the flames threatening the structure, he said, while Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies ensured that about 10 people living on the property got out of the area safely. There were no reported injuries.
Ladder companies trained elevated streams of 800 gallons per minute on the fire, which was confirmed extinguished in about three hours, the battalion chief said.
Firefighters remained on scene until about 6:30 a.m. to extinguish hot spots, Presson said. The site needs extensive cleanup, he said, and crews planned to check on the property throughout the day.
“This is a place crews have made themselves very familiar with” because of its potential fire danger, Presson said, and that familiarity allowed them to very effectively put out the blaze.
The origin and cause of the fire are being investigated by the Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit.
In addition to Ceres, the Modesto and Stanislaus Consolidated departments also had crews fighting the fire, Presson said, and Hughson and Keyes provided water tenders. Turlock Fire and others provided station coverage during the incident.
