the rabbit road fire, saturday april 2, 2011, 3pm

on saturday afternoon, around 3 pm, a fire erupted near the intersection of st. francis and rabbit rd, the area also known as, “the end of st. francis.” authorities were initially claiming that it was a brush fire, but as firemen entered the scene, they could quickly tell that fuel and composites were being consumed by flame by the mere color of the plume of smoke. a brush fire would have been a brown smoke to a light haze. the smoke from this fire was pitch black at first, then continued on with a gray smoke mixed in, indicated gasoline, oil, plastics, etc were being burned.

the fire started in what is know as “the rabbit road junkyard.” the fire quickly spread to the surrounding area and consumed a nearby house. the rabbit road junkyard is an area, on a lot near houses on all sides that contains nearly 2000 abandoned cars; see google maps for the unbelievable image. nearby residents have often complained to the city about the abandoned cars as an eye-sore and as a hazard to name a few.

the area was evacuated from the railroad tracks to the bend at i25 on rabbit road by the sherif’s dept., beginning around 3:30 pm. a shelter was being set up at the chavez center for the displaced residents, just in case the fire raged longer and damaged more homes.