Hollister firefighters battled a dangerous blaze they believed
was ignited intentionally on Saturday. The fire destroyed a motor
home and damaged a nearby apartment complex, but no one was
injured.
Hollister – Hollister firefighters battled a dangerous blaze they believed was ignited intentionally on Saturday. The fire destroyed a motor home and damaged a nearby apartment complex, but no one was injured.
Firefighters spent more than an hour dousing flames from a fully-engulfed, unoccupied motor home in the 1500 block of Gabilan Drive early Saturday morning, according to Hollister Fire Chief Bill Garringer. No one was injured by the fire and damage to the apartment complex was minimal. Garringer said he believes the blaze was the work of an arsonist.
“This is the fourth arson vehicle fire in the last week,” he said. “They all seem to be unconnected, but it’s pretty unusual to have that many vehicles destroyed and all of them obviously arson.”
The motor home had been unoccupied for several months, Garringer said. The gas cap on the motor home had been removed and firefighters believe that is where the fire may have been ignited.
“There was no reason for it to catch fire on its own,” he said.
Last week three other Hollister-area cars were set on fire, including one parked in a driveway in the 1900 block of Cypress Street that had a trail of gasoline leading away from it last Saturday. Police said they believed the trail of gasoline was used as a make-shift fuse in that case.
Garringer said the fires appear unrelated and are probably not the work of a single, serial arsonist. Motives for arson, he said, can be numerous.
“It could be anything from someone trying to cover up evidence to revenge or insurance fraud,” Garringer said. “Or it could just be vandalism.”
Garringer said his department was working closely with Hollister police to track down leads and suspects in the case. No arrests have been made.
Police Chief Jeff Miller said arson was rare in Hollister. In 2004, eight cases of arson were reported to police, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports.
“We don’t have a lot of arson,” he said. “And the fact all of these incidents happened so close together is concerning.”
Miller said police are still investigating the fires.
Garringer said he was particularly concerned about the proximity of the motor home to the apartment complex.
“This is especially dangerous, it very easily could have caused injury or death,” he said. “It’s scary. It was parked right next to an apartment.”
Two tenants of the apartment complex were displaced by the fire, Garringer said. Both were assisted by the Monterey-San Benito Chapter of the Red Cross.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
