La Jolla unit covers Pacific Beach vehicle fire

A Ford Explorer Sport in front of VFW Post 5985 at 853 Turquoise St. in Pacific Beach erupted into flames this morning, officials said.

La Jolla’s Fire Station 13 covered for Pacific Beach’s Station 21, which was without a unit because of the city’s “brown out,” said Capt. Tony Rivas of Station 13.

“We got the call about 8:48 a.m.,” said Maurice Luque, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman. “Property loss was $10,000 to the vehicle and $1,000 to its contents.”

Rivas said “had Unit 21 been able to respond to this fire in their ZIP code, the damage to the truck may have been less.”

Jerry Henson, VFW general manager, who was there when the fire started, said, “When I came to work this morning the car that had been parked in front all day yesterday and last night just burst into flames and the fire department was already there,” said. “Nobody knows why. The fire department didn’t have a clue.”

Henson said the vehicle belonged to a VFW employee.