Member Center

*Local News

Morro Bay garage fire likely the result of smoking

Posted: Mar 12, 2010 11:40 AM by Steve Adamson
Updated: Mar 12, 2010 11:40 AM


Bookmark and Share
Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

As Timothy Daniels of Morro Bay surveyed what was left of his burned out garage Wednesday morning, his feeling reverted back to last night when he was in his garage for a while. He thinks he started the fire accidently. "Earlier, I had been out there smoking my tobacco pipe and I think I tapped out my pipe in the wrong can"

That can had wood in it, and smoldering remains from the pipe eventually got the wood hot enough to burn, at least according to what Mr. Daniels believes was the cause.

Fire officials from the Morro Bay fire department are investigating, but they are inclined to think that's entirely possible. Fire chief Mike Pond said, "we are continuing the investigation on that, however the area of origin is exactly the location he's talking about where he disposed of the pipe contents."

Mr Daniels said he and his wife were alerted to the fire by an unusual sound. "It was kind of a big poof explosion noise and by the time we looked out the window, the whole carport was throwing flames." In fact, there were some actual explosions occurring. Fire fighters had to contend with that while working the fire. "They were dealing with ammuntion that was in the garage. It sounded like machine gun fire there for a while, popping so rapidly," said Chief Pond.

While Mr. Daniels feels a bit of regret on his part for realizing that he's probably at fault for starting the fire, he says he's happy things didn't turn out worse. "If we had not been home, the house would have been half gone at least. As it was, it's just the garage and carport. We got all the vehicles away. Nothing of great significance lost."

Damage to the burned out garage structure was estimated around $80,000, while the contents in the garage lost in the fire were about $25,000 in losses.

PLEASE HELP US MODERATE COMMENTS

Offensive or inappropriate comments are subject to removal. To report a comment, please e-mail us at feedback@ksby.com, and include the name of the story and information on the comment.

Thank you! KSBY.com


Comments

KSBY.com is social!

Most Popular

HotSpot

Thumbnail
Viewer Photo Galleries

Submit your photos to KSBY here!

Thumbnail
Hot Deals

Click here to find savings around Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Thumbnail
Daybreak Web Videos

Did you miss Daybreak Web Videos? Do you have a video link you want to submit?

Thumbnail
Calendar

Wondering what to do this weekend? Check out our calendar of events across the Central Coast.

Thumbnail
Pets

Adopt a pet today! Click here to find adoptable animals and a directory of shelters.

Thumbnail
Central Coast CW 5

What's happening on The CW?

Thumbnail
CA Lottery

Did you win? Check your numbers here. KSBY, the official CA Lottery station for the Central Coast.

Thumbnail
Feedback

What do you think? Click here to leave us your feedback.

KSBY.COM VIDEOS

HS Hoops Recap - Friday, 2-3