Business robbed before fire engulfs 10th Street building
Gilroy – Budget Rent A Car offices and trailers were plundered and set ablaze early Tuesday morning, police and fire officials said.
Emergency dispatchers received a call at 4:34am from the night manager at McDonald’s that the car rental place across the street at 505 10th St. was on fire. Gilroy firefighters approaching in the early light saw a heavy column of smoke rising to the south.
“Coming down 10th Street, we could tell it was going to be a pretty big fire,” firefighter Heinz Maibaum said.
When he arrived, flames engulfed the front office and reached as high as three feet above the vaulted roof, he said. A gray Chevrolet Impala parked out front and the awning in front of the business were also ablaze. It took about 30 minutes for all the Gilroy engines and firefighters to control the two-alarm fire.
By commute time, the building was a charred mess – the entire front face was missing and support beams had curled back. Singed and soaked boxes were strewn across a parking lot a half-inch thick with fire retardant foam. The Impala’s windows were broken and melted right side sagged toward the curb in front of the building.
Crime scene and arson investigators sifted through the debris, taking pictures, removing objects such as a half-gallon container with one side cut off, a blackened computer monitor and the register till, which had $425 in it, franchise owner Dean Williams said. In order to identify what items could have flammable liquids on them and should be sent to the county crime lab for analysis, a county arson investigator led Rosie, a yellow Labrador retriever, around the crime scene. Whatever she pointed at, the investigator marked as evidence with a Day-Glo orange golf tee.
The early hour of the fire and objects found in the wreckage make the fire suspicious, Battalion Chief Ed Bozzo said. However, he declined to say what objects were suspicious or where they were found. Early observations point toward a deliberate fire, a press release said.
Possible thefts also contributed to the suspiciousness of the fire, Bozzo said. Williams said the front office contained four computers and monitors, none of which was visible in the remains. A television and PlayStation 2, which the owner’s brother-in-law said were in a back trailer not damaged by the fire, were also missing, fire investigator Andy Holiday said.
Williams said he believed no suspects would have come from his business. In his three years as owner, he has only employed one family to staff the office and trusts them completely, he said. In addition, he has not received any reactions from customers that would have suggested arson.
However, his three years of business – near the intersection with U.S. 101 – have been full of theft, he said. His trucks and cars were targets for thieves siphoning off gasoline and items left outside the business at night were regularly gone by morning.
“But nothing like this,” he said. “This is major.”
The previous incidents prompted him to install four security cameras on the front awning that linked to a digital recording device in the back room, which suffered some smoke damage. He and law enforcement are hoping the recordings survived the fire and will help identify a suspect or suspects involved in the incident.
Anyone with information regarding the incident may contact Sgt. Noel Provost at 846-0331 or leave an anonymous tip at 846-0330.
