Firefighters got little rest after a human-caused June 25 brushfire scorched almost 200 acres near the Stanford Dish. A July 1 fire on University Avenue and a smaller July 5 blaze that charred another 20 acres in the Stanford foothills kept them scrambling, as did investigations into the causes of the above fires.

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Shams Shaikh

behind the barricade: Drivers and pedestrians alike had to detour University Avenue this past week due to a July 1 fire which torched the building that housed a Walgreens and a Subway. An investigation has revealed that the cause of the $8 million damage was arson.

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Shams Shaikh

repairing the wreckage: A worker checks out the facade of Walgreens on University Avenue, which was gutted by one of the three fires near campus in the last two weeks. The downtown blaze, and one of the foothills fires, was caused by human activity.

The July 5 foothills fire, which broke out to the north of the June 25 site near Junipero Serra Boulevard, was reported last Thursday at 1:20 p.m. Local and regional firefighters, supported by helicopters and aircraft, were able to contain the blaze by 4:30 p.m. on the same day.

According to Stanford Department of Public Safety Deputy Chris Cohendet, two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion, but no structural damage was reported.

“The field was closed, so nobody was at the site,” Cohendet said. “The fire wasn’t in the same location as the one on June 25, but it did move a little bit and butted up against the burned areas. In fact, the burned shrubs helped contain the [July 5] fire.”

Cohendet said that a section of Junipero Serra Boulevard was temporarily closed to accommodate responding units. Power to about 2,000 houses was also briefly shut down while firefighters from nearby cities and from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection worked to control the blaze.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. The Dish area will remained closed until further notice.

The investigation into the cause of the June 25 fire by the Stanford Dish, however, has been closed. Although the fire department originally believed the fire was caused by a malfunctioning generator, Cohendet said that two juveniles were responsible for starting the 171-acre blaze.

“The juveniles were playing with matches and tried to light some dried grass, and that’s how the fire was ignited,” Cohendet said. “The juveniles along with a passing witness attempted to extinguish the fire, but unfortunately it spread. The parents of the juveniles then came forward to the police department to let us know what had happened.”

The juveniles were interviewed by Stanford Department of Public Safety officers before being released to their parents. Cohendet said that a case report had been written and forwarded to the Santa Clara Juvenile Probation Department for review.

He also gave advice to residents coping with a particularly dry season.

“Be careful,” he said. “Don’t play with matches, don’t put cigarettes out on the ground, and throw out trash. Even discarded glass can start a fire, so be cautious.”

Meanwhile, the investigation remains underway regarding the cause of the University Avenue fire. Sections of University Avenue were reopened to road traffic on Tuesday after a July 1 fire gutted the second floor of a commercial building that housed a Walgreens and a Subway.

According to a press release from the Palo Alto Police and Fire Departments, the fire occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. and took local and regional firefighters more than five hours to control.

No injuries were reported, but structural damage was estimated at almost $8 million, with some water and smoke damage to nearby buildings.

According to a weeklong examination conducted by the National Response Team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with ATF special agents from the San Francisco Field Division, the blaze was an arson fire. The Palo Alto Police Department and local ATF special agents are continuing to investigate.