Fire That Torched Dozens of Cars in Fremont Deemed Suspicious

Fremont police detectives have joined the investigation into a fire that burned at least 34 cars at a massive auto yard in Fremont over the weekend.

The fire took place at Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA) at 6700 Stevenson Blvd. on Saturday afternoon.

"It appears to be suspicious," said Fremont Fire Department Division Chief Diane Hendry.

The yard was closed Saturday just after 4 p.m. when the fire began. A security guard alerted authorities to the blaze. When firefighters arrived multiple cars were engulfed in the fire, Hendry said.

Initially the fire was difficult to fight. Because the facility was closed, firefighters had to cut through a fence to get to the blaze.

"It did take more time in the beginning to determine the best access," Hendry said. She added that firefighters needed to lay out several hundred feet of hose to reach the nearest fire hydrant.

A yard manager was brought in to use a forklift to pluck cars out of the fire's path to keep it from spreading. The fire was contained and then extinguished that afternoon.

It's unclear what caused the fire, and Hendry would not say what leads investigators to believe that it is suspicious.

No one was injured in the fire.

Insurance Auto Auction sells vehicles to the highest bidders. It sits on a 60-acre site.

The facility reopened on Monday but cordoned off the area damaged by the fire, according to Tobin Richer, a spokesman for KAR Auction Services, the Indiana company that owns IAA.

Fremont fire officials say the blaze caused $34,000 in damages to the lot's vehicles, but the company is still working to quantify the extent of the financial damage, Richer said in an email.