Firefighters battle three-alarm fire overnight

Firefighters battled a third-alarm fire in Holtville Tuesday night on Highway 115 between Zenos and Alamo road.

Heavy smoke from huge flames caused the highway to close for a short amount of time in both directions.

Fire officials said the fire broke out after 10:30 at night and the fire was categorized as a third-alarm fire because extra resources were needed.

“When I arrived on scene we encountered approximately about a 15 acre brush fire with multiple structures as you see in the background endangered. And also a couple of livestock areas that were endangered at the same time,” said Danny Stauf, Battalion Chief with Imperial County Fire Department.

Fortunately no people were hurt, but about 30 chickens did parish in the fire.

“The was approximately about 300 poultry that were inside the coops and unfortunately we did lose a couple of them but with the quick action of firefighters we were able to save a lot of the poultry that was located in there,” explained Stauf.

Containment of the fire took about an hour and firefighters were on scene till 2:30 a.m. Officials are still investigating where and how the fire started.

“I encountered fire on both sides, I encountered it on the east side of 115 and also on the west side of 115. So at this time it’s still under investigation,” said Stauf.

When on scene Wednesday morning, owners of the land where the palm trees burned mentioned that they had problems on their property before but didn’t want to speak on camera or say anything else.

At this time foul play does not appear to be a factor in the cause of the fire.

“They gave us an estimate of around 300 birds over there, so we’re looking at maybe over 270 birds were actually saved for them. So they’re really appreciative of that. And I just want to extend my appreciation to the firefighters that came out and did a quick response on protecting the structures and the livestock within the area,” added Stauf.