On Tuesday evening, a massive fire engulfed multiple homes that were under construction on Legacy Lane in the San Luis Ranch development. Now, investigators are trying to figure out what started it.
“I got a knock on my door saying there was a fire and I thought there was a fire inside our home, but I come to run outside, came down to that alleyway over there and these three homes that are new constructions were just engulfed in flames and spreading quickly,” said Vik Panchal, San Luis Obispo resident.
Two homes are completely destroyed, a third home is partially destroyed, and a fourth home has exterior damage as a result of Tuesday’s fire.
“We were having a barbecue in our backyard and looked up and saw a plume of smoke that was obviously something major and we ran out the door to make sure there weren’t people in danger and thankful there was not,” said Mike Jacot, San Luis Obispo resident.
“Luckily, the flame was being pushed more in the opposite direction. We were just happy the first responders were quick to respond,” Panchal said.
Seven investigators from across San Luis Obispo County assisted in processing the scene on Wednesday, looking for any potential cause.
San Luis Obispo City Fire Chief Todd Tuggle says they are considering the fire suspicious since it was an unoccupied, partially-built structure and it broke out after hours.
“The normal causes of ignition from human activity such as leaving a stove on or a short-circuited electrical breaker or workers on scene that may have been using some sort of torch or incendiary device of some kind or spark-creating tool — those were not present in this particular situation,” Chief Tuggle said. “Also, the rapid-fire growth indicates there was a significant amount of flame to begin with.”
In a statement to KSBY, the general manager of San Luis Ranch, Josh Bivin, said, “Thankfully nobody was hurt and it’s still under investigation.”
Bivin also said three of the four homes involved in the fire will be completely rebuilt and of those four homes, two had already been sold.
“When I noticed that it was the new construction and realized that luckily we weren’t having a windy day, I felt a little safer that first responders were able to get there and take care of it,” Jacot said.
Tuggle says it could take up to a couple of days or even weeks for investigators to determine how the fire started based on what evidence is available to them.
