Over the weekend, a pallet fire caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to a produce-packing business in Lompoc.
The fire broke out around 7:45 p.m. Saturday on the 1500 block of North L Street near Walmart.
Officials with the Lompoc Fire Department said when firefighters arrived on scene, they found piles of packing boxes engulfed in flames behind the business.
Bob Campbell, the owner of the business, says an arson investigation is underway, claiming that video from that night shows someone jumping over the fence before and after the start of the fire.
Campbell says they are still trying to determine how much was destroyed. The fire department estimates damages to be around $325,000.
"It's a huge loss for us. We know it's between several hundreds of thousands of dollars between packaging and pallets, so we put in a call to our packaging supplier to get an expedited load of products to us so we don't miss any harvest days, but, yeah, its a big hit for us," Campbell said, adding, "We are fortunate that no one was injured and only structures were damaged. We are just very lucky."
Several agencies responded to the fire, which took about two hours for firefighters to get under control.
The Lompoc Fire Department has not confirmed to KSBY whether an arson investigation is underway.
