The early morning commerical warehouse fire at San Carlos Restaurant Supply at 929 Washington St., was accidental and contained to the inside of the building and its contents, according to fire officials.
"We are 100 percent confident it was accidental," said Redwood City and San Carlos fire Deputy Chief Stan Maupin.
Maupin added that while investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire, the three-alarm blaze has been officially ruled as accidental.
The fire was reported at 12:31 a.m. Firefighters arrived on scene at 12:37 a.m. and witnessed heavy smoke coming from the building, Maupin said.
The fire was upgraded to a 3-alarm blaze at 1:55 a.m. Firefighters were able to bring the structure fire under control by 2:15 a.m. and continued monitoring the building for hot spots throughout the early morning, Maupin said.
As emergency clean-up crews arrived, San Carlos Restaurant Supply owner Mr. Ito and workers from neighboring businesses in the commercial warehouse complex, looked on.
"I have no idea what happened," said Ito.
Russell Deutsch is a customer of San Carlos Restaurant Supply and came down to the scene after seeing the report on the morning news.
Deutsch owns Old Port Lobster Shack in Redwood City and Portola Valley and says he is at SCRS almost every day.
"I have some equipment in there, but nothing was damaged," said Deutsch.
At the time of the fire, the building was unoccupied and no civilian or firefighter injuries were reported, Maupin said.
The 24 Hour Fitness next door has also been temporarily closed. Maupin said although it didn't appear that the gym was damaged from the fire, water from the fire department's extinguishing efforts was the cause of the temporary closure.
Patch will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
