Suspicious fire at former Naval commissary on Mare Island

VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) -- The second fire in less than a week erupted on Mare Island in Vallejo. This time firefighters had to face a harsh reality about water resources because the Napa earthquake damaged the water mains.

Firefighters arrived on the scene of the abandoned Naval Shipyard commissary about 8:45 a.m. The fire sent a toxic cloud of black smoke into the air.

This time firefighters had to face a harsh reality about water resources because the Napa earthquake damaged several water mains. That created one important extra step for firefighters before they even get to the scene. They had to contact the water department. If there was a damaged water main at the fire scene, the city would have to pump water from a different source to the hydrant.

When they arrived they had to open the hydrant to make sure it was working before they hooked up their hose.

"We were able to isolate the main and it actually supplied us more water than we needed for the fire which was a lot of help. So ever since the earthquake it's been nice to see all the different divisions of the city to come together and support each other and see the system actually work the way it's designed," said Vallejo Fire Battalion Chief Dan Sarna.

Firefighters say there are no utilities hooked up here, so the cause of the fire is suspicious. They do not believe it was related at all to the aftershocks.

"Although we have a homeless contingency on Mare Island right now, we did a quick primary search, make sure there was indeed no victims who needed rescue and so we went to a defensive operation," said Sarna.

Going on the defensive meant the firefighters blasted water from the outside. Good thing to because as the ABC7 News camera rolled an air conditioner unit collapsed into the building.