UPDATE: OPD is seeking the public’s assistance finding the vehicle and driver involved in this incident [Link]
Oceanside CA— At 1:06 pm this afternoon, callers reported a vehicle had struck a fire hydrant behind 2183 West Vista Way. An engine from the Carlsbad Fire Department was the closest resource and was dispatched to investigate. Upon arrival, they found a fire hydrant had been broken off and water was gushing out at a rate of approximately 1,000 gallons per minute. The geyser of water reached approximately 50-70 feet in height with half of the water falling onto the roof of the adjacent building. The amount of water accumulating on the roof was too much for the drains to accommodate and a 10 foot by 10 foot section of the roof collapsed under the weight of the water. The collapse dumped several thousand gallons of water into an occupied optometrist’s office, where it began to pool until it forced open the front door and also caused a section of wall into an adjoining suite to fail. By this point, the engine from Carlsbad Fire had requested additional units to assist, bringing an additional two engines, a ladder truck, a squad, an ambulance and a Battalion Chief (from the Oceanside and Carlsbad Fire Departments) to the scene.
 

Fire crews, along with officers from the Oceanside Police Department, began evacuating occupants from the seven businesses occupying space in the building. Additionally, a representative from the City of Oceanside’s Water Utilities Department quickly arrived and began working to shut off the water flow to the broken hydrant. As additional fire crews arrived, they began opening up each of the suites to allow the rapidly accumulating water to escape. In some suites, the water was in excess of 12” deep. Once the hydrant was shut down, it was also determined that the fire sprinkler system had been damaged during the roof collapse, adding additional water to the building interior. The sprinkler system was also shut down and crews began using brooms and squeegees to push the water from the suites. Due to the risk of electrocution from damaged wires and the water, power had to be shut off to the entire building. Four of the occupied suites housed food establishments, so the workers in those suites began moving their perishable food products to other cold storage facilities before they spoiled.
“Water started to flood in. I went to shut off the electricity and the roof started to fall in so I evacuated the office” said Keith Miller who works at Eyeglass World, one of the hardest hit businesses in the building. Keith said the unfortunate thing is, they and the optometrist next door have only been open for business a week, since September 4th.
Fire crews worked for nearly two hours to remove as much of the water as possible from the impacted suites. Additionally, the property management firm for the building also ordered a water damage restoration company to the scene. Representatives from San Diego Gas and Electric secured the electric and gas meters to reduce the risk to workers and a City building inspector responded to determine the safety of the structure. Damage to the building and contents is estimated to be in excess of $100,000. There were no injuries to any of the 75-100 occupants of the building at the time of the incident or to the nearly 30 responders (Fire, Police, Building, Water, SDG&E, etc.) who worked at the scene.
Traffic was severely impacted by the incident. “We had to shut down the road because we had to put the ladder truck out there, the hydrant was going, it was all messed up.” said the Chief. Vista Way was shut down at Avocado with traffic being detoured through the parking lot near Mimi’s Cafe and McDonalds for the shopping center that basically only has one way in and out. The road reopened just after 2:45pm.
As the last of the fire crews were picking up and readying to leave the incident, a scuffle broke out between the manager of a cell phone store and a bystander. The bystander had apparently stolen an iPhone from the inventory the store employees were moving out of the building. Officers from the Oceanside Police Department responded back to the scene and took the bystander into custody. Additionally, the Oceanside Police Department is also investigating the original incident involving the vehicle that struck the fire hydrant and then fled the scene.

Click on image to enlarge photo