A fire that erupted Thursday in a storage yard adjacent to a solar panel manufacturing plant near downtown Riverside significantly damaged two cargo containers but did not reach the factory.
The non-injury blaze was reported at 4:08 a.m. Thursday in a storage facility abutting SolarMax, near the intersection of 14th and Commerce streets, according to the Riverside Fire Department.
Battalion Chief Bruce Vanderhorst said that five engine crews and two truck companies, numbering nearly 30 personnel, were sent to the location and encountered flames burning in light vegetation, “extending into storage cargo containers on the 14th Street side of SolarMax.”
Firefighters established hose lays and quickly knocked down the vegetation fire, then turned their attention to the two 45-foot-long containers, both of which were full of “cardboard cat litter disposal boxes,” Vanderhorst said.
The blaze was completely knocked down within 20 minutes, according to the battalion chief.
He said that no buildings were impacted by the fire, the exact source of which remained under investigation Thursday.
There was no immediate estimate of the cost associated with the damage.