A two-alarm arson fire tore through a downtown commercial building, ravaging a landmark bookstore and tangling traffic in the busy Core-Columbia district, authorities reported.
The blaze erupted shortly before 2:30 p.m. in a rear, ground-level restroom at Wahrenbrock's Book House, 726 Broadway, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
It took engine crews about 15 minutes to extinguish the flames, which mostly were confined to the first floor, department public information officer Maurice Luque said.
No one was injured in the fire, but a motorist suffered minor injuries when the car he was driving collided with a speeding fire engine a few blocks away, at 11th Avenue and F Street, Luque said.
Medics took the 20-year-old driver to Scripps Mercy Hospital.
Investigators determined that the blaze had been intentionally ignited, Luque said. He declined to elaborate, except to say that no one was in custody.
The proprietor of an adjacent business said he'd gotten direct information about the cause of the fire in the three-story, 71-year-old shop, renowned for its rare and autographed volumes.
"The guy next door (who) works in the bookstore, he told me that one of the customers (threw) a cigarette in one of the book boxes, and that's what started the fire," barbershop owner Cleo Horn told local media.
About 50 firefighters were able to get a quick handle on the flames, in large part thanks to a new thermal-imaging device with which they have been training lately, Luque said.
As they battled the blaze, police shut down Broadway between Sixth and Ninth avenues, and blocked off Sixth and Seventh avenues between B and E streets. The closures lasted into the early evening.
The fire caused an estimated $150,000 in structural damage and destroyed about $75,000 worth of contents -- mostly "hundreds and hundreds of books" and some newspapers, Luque said.
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