Someone set a fire that scorched eight vehicles parked on the grounds of a Carlsbad car dealership, the company's general manager said adding that surveillance camera footage clearly shows what happened.
Eight vehicles including a Charger, a Jeep Wrangler, a Ram Truck, a Dodge Caravan and a Grand Cherokee were damaged in the fire reported just before 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Bob Baker new and used car dealership on Car Country Drive, near the Carlsbad Premium Outlets.
Firefighters discovered at least seven or eight vehicles on fire in the back of the dealership, Carlsbad Fire Department Battalion Chief Chris Lawrence said.
"It is a little out of the ordinary so we are going to treat this as a worst-case scenario and the fire department and the PD will be conducting an investigation together to see how that fire started tonight," Lawrence said.
Crews arrived and began to douse the vehicles with water and were able to get the blaze under control quickly.
The cars that were affected were privately-owned and were at the dealership for repairs, Lawrence said.
No damage was done to buildings and no injuries were reported.
Local
Bob Baker GM Kurt Anderson told NBC 7 the fire resulted in an estimated $250,000. Eight vehicles were damaged, Anderson said. Six of those were believed to be totaled.
The Grand Cherokee, a $50,000 SUV, belonged to Crystal Marrone. It wasn't just any SUV, though. It was an SUV that she and her late husband dreamed of one day owning together.
Marrone said she just bought the Jeep three weeks ago and took it in for service Tuesday.
"Tears. My heartfelt reaction was tears," Marrone said of the moment she found out her SUV and her daughter's gifts were gone. "I was a little bit shocked."
To make matters worse, her 3-year-old's birthday gifts were in the back seat and were also destroyed.
"I think that is a pretty sad moment when you have to go to a dealership or do whatever it is to cause damage to other people's property," Marrone said about the alleged arson suspect.
Anderson said insurance will cover the loss and compensate the cars' owners.
As for the cause, he believes it was arson and said surveillance video shows what happened.
Fire officials and the Carlsbad Police Department were investigating the fire as possible arson.
