Three Oceanside Fires This Week Caused $250K In Damage

Oceanside fire officials announced today they had put down three fires over the past few days, two of which caused about $250,000 in damage to a downtown hotel and a mobile home.

The fire at an unoccupied mobile home at 900 North Cleveland Street broke out early Friday and crews had it under control in less than a half-hour, according to Oceanside Fire Battalion Chief Felipe Rodriguez. The structure, which along with its contents was valued at $150,000, was considered a total loss, he said.

Around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, firefighters extinguished a fire at the three-story Comfort Suites Marina, 888 North Coast Highway, that was caused by burning cigarette butts on a third-floor patio and nearby gutter, Rodriguez said.

The fire caused about $100,000 in damage and an evacuation of the hotel, Rodriguez said. The building was later reopened, with the exception of damaged areas on the second and third floors from which 87 adults and 22 children were relocated to other hotels.

On Wednesday afternoon, another fire began that blackened about 105 acres in northeastern Oceanside and temporarily threatened structures. It was one of nearly a dozen major brush fires to break out in the county this week.

Police officers in the vicinity of Del Rio Elementary School on North River Road had spotted Alberto Serrato, 57, allegedly pulling up dry brush and placing it on already smoldering bushes and arrested him.

The fire quickly spread but was eventually confined to the bed of the San Luis Rey River, east of College Boulevard.

A two-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Douglas Drive, west of Vandegrift Boulevard, also kept Oceanside fire crews busy. The collision sent five people to hospitals with severe injuries, Rodriguez said.

And on Friday afternoon, firefighters responded to the waters off Del Mar Beach at Camp Pendleton after an explosion in the bilge of a 28-foot power boat, according to Battalion Chief Bill Kogerman. The fire was out before rescue personnel arrived, but caused about $20,000 in damage.

Two of the boat's four occupants were injured in the explosion and were taken to hospitals, Kogerman said.