By Eric Kurhi
The Oakland Tribune
HAYWARD, Calif. — A fast-moving fire that skeletonized four vehicles and destroyed a carport early Tuesday is being called “very suspicious” by a fire official.
The blaze was reported just before 4 a.m. in a carport outside an apartment complex on Arf Avenue near Hesperian Boulevard.
When fire officials arrived minutes later, the four vehicles and carport were fully engulfed, fire Capt. Thor Poulsen said.
The fire was so hot that windows broke and blinds melted at a residence about 20 feet away, and three more cars in the parking area had melted bumpers and taillights just from being near the fire.
Poulsen said it will be hard to determine exactly how the fire started because all the vehicles were destroyed.
He added that typically it takes a car fire “a while to get going,” much less spread to adjacent cars, and said it is likely the vehicles were burning for some time before firefighters were summoned.
“Even if all four had been set ablaze at the same time, it still looked like it had been going for 20 or 30 minutes before the call came in,” he said. “It looked like the (apartment) building was on fire, the flames were so large.”
Hayward police previously reported six suspicious car fires from July to September. Fire officials said there is no indication of a link between them and Tuesday’s blaze.
“Car fires happen all the time,” Deputy Fire Chief Mark Bennett said. “Usually it does involve a stolen vehicle, but it’s not unusual for it to involve a car that wasn’t stolen. But four completely involved at 4 a.m., that’s very suspicious.”
About 20 residents briefly were displaced by the fire, including Alvin Calhoun, who lives in an apartment across the parking lot.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “I looked out, and the flames were above the roof of the building. I could feel the heat all the way from my home.”
No one was injured in the blaze.
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