Three Alarm Fire Forces Evacuation of Commercial Building

A three alarm commercial building fire Monday afternoon stopped traffic and forced employees out of the 100,000 square foot structure near the Colton and Grand Terrace border. Fire personnel from the Colton and Loma Linda fire departments received a call of a commercial structure fire on the 21000 block of Barton Road at the Lineage Logistics building around 1:30 p.m. explained Colton Fire Captain Tom DeBellis. Responders found smoke coming from the roof and from the main entrance, Debellis, a spokesperson for the fire department, said. Twenty fire units and 50 fire personnel from the cities of Colton, Loma Linda, Rialto, Redlands, and San Bernardino City and County responded to the blaze, which was extinguished in about an hour, Debellis said. “Once they got to it, it was out pretty quick. We conducted a fire attack and held the blaze to a water heater closet and storage loft on the second floor of the building,” Debellis said. “We also did a lot of salvaging to save the interior contents.” Salvaging, or placing tarps on contents inside a residence, helps prevent water, fire and/or smoke damage to other items, Debellis explained. A second alarm was placed on the fire because of its large size. “The third alarm was put on the fire due to high temperatures and fire conditions for the firefighters,” Debellis said. Grand Terrace’s high Monday reached over 100 degrees and San Bernardino County officials have placed high heat warnings in effect for the week. Calls for comment were not returned by the Lineage Logistics Inland Empire Vice President Ken Stotelmyre Tuesday. Lineage Logistics is a cold-storage business that was a former regional warehouse for Stater Bros. markets. There were no injuries to either civilians or firefighters, Debellis said. Debellis said the cause of the fire is currently under investigation by Colton fire personnel.