Spontaneously combusting kitchen towels were the apparent cause of a fire in the College cafeteria Thursday evening according to details released by the Susanville Fire Department.
Engine 621 from the Susanville Fire Department was dispatched to a commercial fire alarm at Lassen College around 10:45p.m., proceeding to the maintenance building where an audible fire alarm was sounding.
“E621 investigated and determined there was no fire in the maintenance building however the alarm system was still showing active,” explains SFD Engineer Kalvn McFarland. “E621 proceeded to start investigating other buildings at the college and noticed an audible alarm coming from the Cafeteria at approximately 11:15p.m.”
Firefighters noticed a smell of smoke and a light smoke haze inside the cafeteria. Making entry into the building they found a laundry basket on fire in kitchen.
The fire was quickly extinguished and operations to remove smoke from the building began. Once the smoke removal was complete the building was turned over to college staff.
“The fire appears to be caused by kitchen towels that spontaneously combusted,” said McFarland.
Two fire apparatus and two chief officers responded to the incident, and there were no fire service or civilian injuries.
The Susanville Fire Department was assisted by Cal-FIRE and the Susanville Police Department.
