Firefighters battled a large, smoky early-morning mulch fire at a plant nursery on New Year’s Day.
A report came in to San Diego Fire Rescue Department at 1:23 a.m. Monday of a vegetation fire at Terra Bella Nursery at 302 Hollister St., east of Interstate 5 and north of Palm Avenue, with firefighting units arriving at 1:25 a.m.
When crews arrived on scene, the fire that began in mulch had spread to a nearby pile of pallets, according to Fox 5 San Diego.
“We have crews from San Diego Fire Department, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach that have been here for several hours fighting this fire,” SDFD Battalion Chief Tommy Charpentier told Fox 5. “With the sun coming up, we were just able to get some heavy equipment operators from the nursery to start pulling back the pile of wood and mulch, allowing us better access to try to extinguish the fire.”
As of 7:45 a.m., SDFD reported the nursery fire had weakened, adding crews were remaining at the scene to completely extinguish the blaze and mop up afterward.
No firefighter or civilian injuries or deaths were reported.
The origin and cause of the blaze were being investigated.
A total of seven engines, one truck, one helicopter, two battalion chiefs and 43 personnel responded to the nursery fire, according to SDFD.
Crews were reportedly still on the scene by dawn.
There were no reports of injuries or evacuations.
No other information was immediately available.
Updated at 11:50 a.m. Jan. 1, 2024
–City News Service