No injuries to civilians or firefighters in today's fire at John's Used Car and Wreckers

Humboldt Bay Fire provided photos and released information about the fire today at John’s Used Car and Wreckers 3008 Jacobs Avenue.

Press Release:

On Sunday, April 12th, 2020 at 4:38 p.m., Humboldt Bay Fire was dispatched to an investigation of black smoke coming from an automotive business on the 3000 block of Jacobs Avenue.   Initial crews arrived just two minutes later to find heavy fire pushing out of the rear of the building, triggering an automatic 2nd Commercial Alarm which was subsequently upgraded to a 3rd and 4th alarm.

Fire agencies from all over the County responded to help including Arcata Fire, Samoa Peninsula Fire District, Loleta Volunteer Fire Department, Fieldbrook Volunteer Fire Department, Blue Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Westhaven Volunteer Fire Department, Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department, and Cal Fire, bringing in over three Trucks, ten Engines, and several command staff.

Crews stretched thousands of feet of fire hose, feeding engines from 2 fire hydrants to get enough water pressure and volume to push the fire back. A large amount of fire burned in the attic space, which crews attacked from above with the aerial ladders.   Thankfully, crews were able to extinguish the fire and there were no injuries to civilians or firefighters.  The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

However, initial assessments believe the building to be a complete loss totaling several hundred thousand dollars.   Due to the amount of oil present on the property, County Environmental Health, Fish and Wildlife, and the Humboldt / Del Norte Hazardous Material Response Authority responded in an abundance of caution to evaluate and mitigate the hazardous material threat.   HBF would like to thank all of our partner agencies who assisted on this fire as well as HBF CERT, HBF Fire Support, EPD, PG&E, and the City of Eureka Public Works for their response and assistance on scene.