FORD
05-15-2009, 08:10 PM
Man trying to light bong sparks garage fire
By Kristina DavisUnion-Tribune Staff Writer, Pauline RepardUnion-Tribune Staff Writer
12:52 p.m. May 15, 2009
RANCHO PENASQUITOS — A blaze that destroyed a garage at a house in Rancho Peñasquitos on Thursday evening was sparked by a young man who was trying to light a bong with a torch, authorities said.
The 23-year-old man and a firefighter suffered burns and were taken to UCSD Medical Center.
The fire began when the torch caught a sofa on fire at the home on Adobe Bluffs Drive about 6:35 p.m., according to police. The resident ran inside to get water but returned to find the garage fully engulfed in flames and the fire beginning to burn his Jeep.
He pushed the Jeep out of the garage, burning his hands.
Neighbors called 911, and the resident got his father and sister out of the house safely, said John Thomson, a battalion chief with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
A firefighter suffered second-degree burns on his face when crews opened a door connecting the home and garage and intense heat was drawn toward them.
The blaze took about 20 minutes to extinguish. Firefighters later found a large hookah pipe, bongs and other pipes in the garage.
There were some delays in the firefighter response times because a communications center computer had just crashed and the usual paging system did not work, Thomson said.
But he and other crews who heard the dispatcher's voice over their radios headed to the fire without waiting for a page. The result, Thomson said, was more firefighters at the house than usual.
Damage was estimated at $100,000.
http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bong.gif:fighting0066:
Link (http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/15/bn15garage125231/?northcounty&zIndex=100014)
By Kristina DavisUnion-Tribune Staff Writer, Pauline RepardUnion-Tribune Staff Writer
12:52 p.m. May 15, 2009
RANCHO PENASQUITOS — A blaze that destroyed a garage at a house in Rancho Peñasquitos on Thursday evening was sparked by a young man who was trying to light a bong with a torch, authorities said.
The 23-year-old man and a firefighter suffered burns and were taken to UCSD Medical Center.
The fire began when the torch caught a sofa on fire at the home on Adobe Bluffs Drive about 6:35 p.m., according to police. The resident ran inside to get water but returned to find the garage fully engulfed in flames and the fire beginning to burn his Jeep.
He pushed the Jeep out of the garage, burning his hands.
Neighbors called 911, and the resident got his father and sister out of the house safely, said John Thomson, a battalion chief with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
A firefighter suffered second-degree burns on his face when crews opened a door connecting the home and garage and intense heat was drawn toward them.
The blaze took about 20 minutes to extinguish. Firefighters later found a large hookah pipe, bongs and other pipes in the garage.
There were some delays in the firefighter response times because a communications center computer had just crashed and the usual paging system did not work, Thomson said.
But he and other crews who heard the dispatcher's voice over their radios headed to the fire without waiting for a page. The result, Thomson said, was more firefighters at the house than usual.
Damage was estimated at $100,000.
http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bong.gif:fighting0066:
Link (http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/15/bn15garage125231/?northcounty&zIndex=100014)