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(Photo above left) Santa Paula Firefighters pour water onto the intense flames that consumed the Cazadores Night Club Monday evening. Right, Captain Jerry Byrum checks for hotspots using heat detecting equipment. (Above right) Santa Paula Firefighters break one of the windows in the Night Club allowing them access to the flames that consumed the interior of the Cazadores Night Club. When firefighters arrived on scene flames were already coming through doors and windows. |
SPFD: $500K damage in Cazadores Nightclub fire; cause investigated
February 03, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A major fire broke out Monday night at the Cazadores Night Club that caused an estimated $500,000 damage and drew a response of firefighters from throughout the west county, a blaze that is still being investigated.
According to Santa Paula Fire Assistant Chief Kevin Fildes, smoke and flames were reported at 6:58 p.m. coming from the nightclub, located in 1400 block of East Harvard Boulevard just west of the Santa Paula Creek Bridge. Fildes said employees of Ruben’s Tires, located near the nightclub, observed “smoke coming from the vents.... When Engine 81 arrived on scene at 7:02 p.m. the fire had been burning a very short time. I saw the initial smoke from my house” right before firefighters were dispatched.
Upon arrival SPFD personnel found heavy smoke and fire: “They called for more equipment,” and engines from Ventura City, Ventura County and Fillmore Fire departments responded to the scene where about 30 firefighters fought the blaze. Santa Paula Police closed the streets from the Boys & Girls Club west of the nightclub to where Harvard Boulevard and Main Street merge and become East Telegraph Road at the Santa Paula Creek Bridge.
Complicating the initial firefight, said Fildes, “It took us a long time to get into the building... it was secured with metal doors and padlocks and we had to force entry into the structure.” Once inside, firefighters found “major fire in the dance floor area and the stage area running into the attic.” The fire, which was considered highly toxic due to the large number of burning plastic chairs, tabletops and “a lot of plastic signs,” was declared “knocked down” at 7:40 p.m.
Fildes said damage was extensive mostly to the interior of the building and its contents. Some items were destroyed in the fire, while “There was heavy smoke and water damage” to other contents that included band equipment, lighting equipment, television sets, furniture and flooring.
“The building itself, it’s probably 3,500 square feet or maybe a little bigger, was mostly okay. It’s a brick structure... held everything in there although probably the roofing materials will have to be replaced. I would estimate at this point that, between the contents and the structure, damage is right around $500,000.”
Officials were unable to contact the business owner: “We were told he was in Mexico for the weekend,” said Fildes. The business had been open over the weekend, but was closed Monday; a phone number listed for the club was disconnected. Fildes said Santa Paula and Ventura County Fire investigators as well as Santa Paula Police detectives are conducing the investigation into the cause of the fire, which at this point is undetermined.
“We finally left the scene Tuesday afternoon about 4 p.m.,” about 21 hours after the fire broke out. “We kept people there all night for fire watch,” and Fildes said the “investigation was all day yesterday,” and is ongoing. Anyone with any information regarding the fire is asked to contact Santa Paula Police Detective Kenny Clark at 525-4474.
