Crime & Safety

Electrical Malfunction Suspected As Cause of Container Fire Saturday

By Bay City News: 

An electrical malfunction is suspected of starting a fire Saturday evening inside a converted shipping container that was used for storage at the Liberty Ship Marina in Sausalito, a Southern Marin Fire Protection District investigator said Monday afternoon.

There was electricity inside the 40- by 8 1/2-foot metal container and an electrical panel close to the origin of the blaze in the left rear corner of the container, Fire Prevention Officer and investigator Fred Hilliard said.

The cause, however is still under investigation, Hilliard said.

The fire at 41 Liberty Ship Way was reported at 7:11 p.m. and controlled in 40 minutes. There were two 5-gallon aluminum propane tanks, gas tanks, oils and chemicals inside the container that was used by Dave's Diving Services Inc., Hilliard said.

The company is a boat repair shop at 39 Liberty Ship Way.

Bystanders reported hearing explosions before seeing flames, Battalion Chief Jim Irving said. A 15-square-foot wooden shed that was up against the storage container, and a separate 40- by 8 1/2-foot wooden storage container also burned but were not destroyed, Hilliard said.

Irving estimated the damage at $250,000. Firefighters from Southern Marin, Marin County Fire Department, and the Mill Valley, Tiburon, San Rafael, Ross Valley and Kentfield fire departments responded to the blaze.


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