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Fire broke out in Calexico near port of entry

News 11's Vanessa Gongora reports

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - A fire broke out in Calexico Saturday morning near the port of entry.

Edgar Morales, Calexico firefighter says when they arrived on scene, what appeared to be a homeless encampment was in flames.

"This fire, there was no exposure. No buildings in danger," says Morales. "We just hit it with water from a small distance and stayed away for the most part. Once the fire's put out, we go in and put out any hotspots and move what we need to move, but for the most part we just hit it from the outside with water."

The fire broke out around 7:30 a.m. across the street from the port of entry in a dirt lot.

The Calexico Fire Department (CFD) says 11 firefighters were on scene and it took a little over half an hour to put out.

According to Morales, there was a lot of rubbish in the fire but they saw one item that had to be saved. 

"One of our guys noticed the flag was there. I don't think it was in danger of catching on fire but it was in the smoke and there was a lot of smoke there so we decided to take it down," says Morales. "Just handed it off and put it away. I believe it's in our engine still."

He says the Calexico Police Department (CPD) was also on scene talking with a possible witness.

We have reached out to CPD and are waiting to hear back.

The fire department says they've responded to more than 20 fires already in the past month. 

The cause of this fire is still under investigation. If you have any information, you're asked to call the Calexico Fire Department at (760) 768-2150.

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Vanessa Gongora

Vanessa Gongora joined the KYMA team in 2022 and is the anchor/producer for CBS at 4 p.m.

You can contact her with story ideas at vanessa.gongora@kecytv.com

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