A small fire near a homeless encampment and tomato field off Buena Vista Road burned about a half-acre Tuesday afternoon, according to firemen at the scene.
“They were burning old furniture for some reason,” said Leo Alvarez, a division chief with the Hollister Fire Department.
The call came in around 11:40 a.m. and the fire was put out by 12:03 p.m., he said. Firemen arrived on the scene around 11:45 a.m. and “containment was within six minutes,” the division chief said.
Rodney Dover, a captain with the Hollister Fire Department, stood with firefighters by an engine above the dry riverbed, and pointed to the burnt spot where there had been springs and foam that might have been part of a small mattress or chair, he said.
There were two spot fires in the encampment and the larger fire, he said.
Mike DiMarco, whose company Topflavor Farms, leases the property, drove his truck by rows of the company’s tomatoes, where across the field a fire engine was parked near the dry riverbed.
“Looks like someone had a campfire down there and didn’t put it all the way out,” he said.
