Crime & Safety

Fire Erupts in Paly Construction Area

Homeless encampment goes up in flames, causes major construction setback.

Heavy flames and smoke charred a fenced construction area at Thursday morning, ruining a set of special pipes designated for new buildings, Fire Department Batallion Chief Chris Woodard said.

Firefighters responded to reports of flames at 5:23 a.m. at Paly, and Engine 6 arrived to find ablaze the construction yard bordering Embarcardero Road and the bike path.

A homeless encampment had caught fire and the flames had spread to the construction area, said Woodard.

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Inside that area were pipes that had just arrived from Texas, designed to carry chilled water to various new buildings for cooling. The loss of the pipes will cause “significant delay” in the construction of the buildings, according to the construction manager.

The flames were knocked down within 25 minutes of arrival, said Woodard, and did not spread beyond the homeless encampment or the construction yard. Damage is estimated at about $100,000, and no structures were damaged.

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No injuries were reported by fire personnel.

The response from Palo Alto Fire included Engines 1, 3, 6, Rescue-2, Truck-6, Medics and the Battalion Chief -6.


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