BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — For the fourth time in less than a year, the industrial park on Washington Street and Brundage Lane had a building catch fire and one neighboring business is frustrated by the constant fires.
- The most recent fire started early Thursday morning with fire crews still on the scene at 6 p.m., however, no injuries were reported and the cause of this fire is still under investigation.
- According to the Kern County Assessor's office, the property is owned by Big Washington, LLC. but very little else is known about the company. The billing address associated with the property leads to a UPS Store in Pacific Palisades.
- When looking up the address online, a listing on LoopNet appears for both 99 and 120 Washington Street for just shy of $10 million, and a contact number for the property. We reached out to that number, but have not heard back as of publishing this article.
- For Patrick Murray, owner of Western Valve, Inc. just north of the property that's continuously caught fire, it's frustrating to see the buildings next door catch fire because he's had to shut down his business for the day as a result. Murray also noted that with two buildings in close proximity to his property, he fears that if those catch fire they could do significant damage to his property.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For the fourth time in less than a year, this property off of Washington Street and Brundage Lane has caught fire, this one starting at around 4:30 in the morning on Thursday. I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter, and with this being the fourth fire, we did some digging.
As we've reported previously, according to the Kern County Assessor's office, the industrial park located at 99 and 120 Washington Street is owned by Big Washington LLC, however, there's very little information available about the company online.
According to a commercial real estate website, the property was put up for sale earlier this year for just shy of 10 million dollars, and a phone number for the point of contact for the property. We reached out to them Thursday afternoon, but we have not heard back as of news time.
We spoke to Patrick Murray, owner of Western Valve, Incorporated, which sits just north of the property that caught fire. Murray said he's frustrated that fires keep breaking out at the property and he fears that if a warehouse on the property near his goes up, it could cause major damage to his business.
"We'd hope this property eventually gets sold to somebody that can actually demolish these old cotton buildings and turn it into a real industrial park and a good neighbor," said Murray. "All I want to do is come to work and keep my people busy and move on, so it's very, very dangerous. Every day, I wonder when the building is going to catch fire."
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