Fire destroys external structure at Granite Construction yard in Watsonville

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV)- On Monday morning, Watsonville Fire put out a fire that destroyed an outside structure at Granite Construction yard.

Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Jonathan Goulding confirmed to our reporter at the scene that they originally got calls for an unknown type of fire and were only going to have one unit respond.

While they were responding to the call, Goulding added that a large column of smoke was coming from a building at the Granite Construction Yard on the 600 West Beach Street. That is when more firefighting units were added to battle the structure fire.

Firefighters got to the scene and saw a large amount of heavy black smoke and fire but appeared to be from the exterior of the building.

There was fire exposure into the building but firefighters were able to put out the fire and prevented it from spreading to the propane tank.

"We were able to get a quick knockdown of the fire, kept it from getting to the propane tank, and both vegetation fire and building fire extinguished pretty quickly," Goulding said.

Goulding said that there were minimal damages inside and outside the building. However, an exterior building at the construction yard will need to be replaced as a result of this fire.

During the fire, a Watsonville Firefighter suffered a minor injury as the firefighter twisted their ankle.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation and Watsonville Fire is still trying to figure out if the fire started in the vegetation behind the construction yard or if started in the building and spread.