Fire in El Centro Office Parking Lot Sparks Investigation into Vehicle Arson
On Saturday, November 4, at around 3:30 AM, the El Centro Fire Department responded to an incident at the Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC) office parking lot, located at 1503 N. Imperial Ave.
Upon arrival, they discovered two vehicles, a small van and a sedan, that had been set on fire in the middle of the night. A third vehicle, a large SUV, also suffered heat damage in the incident.
After the El Centro Fire Department swiftly extinguished the fires on the two ICTC vehicles, Chief Brad Chapin stated, "El Centro police collected evidence beneath the third vehicle that did not burn, which was consistent with a crime in progress."
Authorities suspected the fire to be an accident caused by someone attempting to siphon gas from one of the vehicles, as they found a 2-gallon container beneath one vehicle and holes drilled in the gas tanks.
No suspect has been identified in this incident, but it remains an ongoing investigation, and anyone with information is urged to call. "We have no suspects at this point. There’s not a whole lot to go on," Chapin said on Saturday morning. "I’m still looking for cameras; I can’t find any cameras in the area."
The vehicles affected by the arson were not part of ICTC's fleet for transporting people; instead, they were support vehicles. Among the casualties were a small van and a sedan, with a third vehicle, a large SUV, suffering heat damage during the incident.
The Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC) was established in 2009 with the purpose of empowering member cities and the county to take the lead in the transportation planning and programming process. As outlined in the commission’s history, ICTC has several critical responsibilities, including developing and regularly updating Imperial County’s Regional Transportation Plan, managing regional, state, and federal transportation improvement programs and their revisions, as well as overseeing the allocation and supervision of Local Transportation Fund funds, among other essential functions.