Hollister
– An arsonist set a Sunday evening fire that chased shoppers and
workers from Hollister’s crowded Target store.
Hollister – An arsonist set a Sunday evening fire that chased shoppers and workers from Hollister’s crowded Target store.
Hollister Fire Department Chief Bill Garringer said the fire was intentionally set, but few details were released Monday regarding the origin of the fire or the investigation, now in the hands of the Hollister Police Department.
“It’s an ongoing investigation so I can’t give any details,” Police Capt. Bob Brooks said Monday evening.
The store was closed all day Monday, but Target officials were optimistic Monday evening that it would reopen this morning.
Arson investigators are hoping that the numerous surveillance cameras throughout the Target store might have captured images of the arsonist in action.
“They’re looking closely at the surveillance tapes of the store,” Garringer said.
The fire began at 6:28pm in the grocery section in the northeast part of the store, Brooks said. Five engines, two ladder trucks and 32 firefighters were eventually called on scene to help control the two-alarm blaze, Brooks said.
Firefighters had the fire under control by 7:39pm, he said.
“Obviously there was a witness that saw the fire and alerted everybody and then the store was evacuated,” said Brooks said Sunday night, shortly after the blaze was declared under control. “The store was evacuated and everybody got out safely.”
In addition to the Hollister Fire Department, the Aromas Fire Department, San Juan Bautista Fire Department and Gilroy Fire Department sent engines and firefighters, Brooks said.
“I put in a request for an extra two engines and a ladder,” Garringer said.
Garringer commended Target’s employees for their efforts to get everyone safely out of the store.
“The Target employees did a great job of evacuating everybody before our arrival,” Garringer said. “I think they must have practiced before.”
Jessica Holt and Mitchell Cox were shopping at Target Sunday evening. As they headed toward the checkout area at the front of the store, Holt said, she heard someone shout “fire!”
She said they turned and saw smoke coming from the grocery section, then saw flames.
“You see these flames gushing up to the ceiling,” Holt said. “It was that quick.”
They heard the store’s sprinkler system turn on, and Cox told Holt to go outside and wait, she said. As she headed toward the front of the store, she heard the call for evacuation and people began to run.
“It was scary,” Holt said. “The flames didn’t scare me. It was the people running.”
Once people were outside the store, the panic subsided, Holt said.
Holt said Cox grabbed a fire extinguisher and briefly attempted to fight the fire, but the thick smoke drove him out of the store. Cox emerged from the store drenched by the sprinklers.
Fire damaged a 400-square-foot area of the store, Brooks said. There was heavy smoke and water damage throughout the building, he said.
Even as firefighters arrived to battle the blaze Sunday, traffic continued into the Target parking lot. Dozens of teenagers used their cell phone cameras to snap photos of smoke billowing from the still fully lit store as emergency vehicles arrived in waves.
Smoke poured out of the main entrance and up the store’s facade as firefighters geared up to enter the building.
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office assisted in traffic control and the Hollister Police Department sealed the store’s entry with yellow crime scene tape.
Two inches of water poured out of several side entrances into the parking lot near the northeast end of the building from the sprinkler system.
Dozens of Target employees waited in a group in the parking lot. Later Sunday night, their personal items, left behind during the evacuation, were brought to them in shopping carts.
Kimberly Irons, manager of the Morgan Hill Target store, was at the Hollister store Monday morning to help coordinate re-opening efforts. Irons said there was product loss and the store was closed primarily due to water damage.
Irons said extra Target employees were called in from outlying areas to assist in re-opening the store.
“People have been here all night to get the store open,” Irons said Monday. “We will be working, all of the employees, to get the store open as fast as possible. We cannot wait to have our community back in our store.”
And many community members were anxious to get back inside, as well.
Gina Peyton and Kaitlynn Cardoza cautiously approached the yellow police tape blockade at the store’s front entrance Monday afternoon.
“I knew about the fire last night but we have prescriptions at the pharmacy,” Peyton said.
Small signs attached to the yellow tape directed shoppers to visit other Target locations such as Gilroy. But those who like Peyton and Cardoza has medication waiting were allowed inside to pick up their prescriptions.
Both Hollister residents expressed dismay at the closing of the store.
“This is all we have!” Cardoza said.
Fortunately for Peyton, there will be no Christmas shopping panic.
“Most of my Christmas shopping is done,” Peyton said.
Neither fire investigators nor Target officials were able to offer an estimate Monday of the cost of damage caused by the fire or the value of merchandise lost.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 of mv*********@fr***********.com.
