SAN JOSE -- Stacks of wood pallets ignited and sparked a massive blaze in a commercial area of North San Jose early Tuesday morning, according to the fire department.
The blaze at a pallet and box business on Mabury Road, near Oakland Road and Highway 101, sent flames shooting 40 feet high, according to the San Jose Fire Department.
A passerby called 911 at about 2 a.m. to report smoke and flames coming from the open yard area of a business on Mabury Road, according to San Jose Fire Capt. Ray Nibbi. As the first firefighters responded they saw smoke and quickly caleld for a second alarm, Nibbi said. Firefighters reported flames shooting 40 feet into the sky.
Firefighters discovered dozens of wood pallets stacked in the open yard of a pallet and box business were burning "like a big bonfire in an open area," Nibbi said.
"It was burning hot and fast," he said.
Firefighters surrounded the flames and had the blaze under control in about one hour. A trailer/office in the yard was destroyed, and seven vehicles parked along a fence at a next-door body shop were destroyed in the blaze.
But Nibbi credits firefighters for keeping the flames from jumping onto an adjadent lumber yard.
The crews "did a really good job keeping it contained. It burned really hot, really fast," Nibbi said.
An arson investigator is trying do determine what caused the blaze.
Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869. Follow him at Twitter.com/markmgomez.
———
©2014 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)
Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
