Calif. Firefighters Extinguish Underground Vault Fire

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- The hot weather may have contributed to igniting an underground electrical vault fire in a quiet Rancho Cucamonga neighborhood Sunday afternoon, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District officials said.

"Equipment, like us, don't really like the heat," said Fire Investigator Kevin Walton as he stood in the 108000 block of Modoc Street, a few homes down from where smoke and flames were rising out of the underground utility chamber.

At about 2 p.m., authorities received a call from a resident reporting smoke and small flames coming out of the ground, according to initial dispatch reports.

Firefighters arrived and determined the fire was coming from a Southern California Edison underground vault. Residents who lived in the immediate area surrounding the vault fire were told to either leave the area or stay indoors, Walton said.

Fire officials called out Southern California Edison personnel to shut off the power to the vault and surrounding area in order to extinguish the flames.

"If there's still electricity running to there, we really don't want to pour any water on it," he stated.

Rudolph Zamora and his wife returned to their home after an outing to a fire truck, with it's lights flashing, parked in front of their home.

The couple were worried the flames may travel from the burning vault to nearby homes.

Walton said that is always a concern, but since the vault's safety mechanisms kicked in, shutting off the electricity to that particular box, the chances of the flames traveling were small.

At about 5 p.m., firefighters were finally able to safely extinguish the flames.

It was not immediately clear how long the neighborhood would be without power or how much damage the blaze caused to the underground equipment.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service