An accidental fire caused an estimated $25,000 in damages to a local food truck on May 27, but the owners plan to get back to business as soon as possible.
Robert Slores, owner of Big Truck Foods, said his favorite of two food trucks was parked in the driveway of his house on the northwest side of Lompoc late on May 27 when his wife noticed it had caught fire.
The Lompoc Fire Department arrived at about 10:30 p.m., according to a department press release, and crews worked to extinguish flames that were threatening a nearby home and vehicle. The fire was doused within five minutes, according to the release, but crews stayed for nearly an hour to investigate the fire’s cause.
Slores said the Lompoc Fire Department determined the fire to be accidental, and said that it may have been caused by an electrical issue in the front portion of the truck. The truck has had mechanical issues ever since Slores first opened his business, but he said things have gotten worse since the truck was worked on a few months ago.
“We’re hoping it was electrical so that someone can be held accountable,” Slores told the Sun, adding that the fire is still under investigation.
The staple purple food truck is totally destroyed, Slores said. Refrigerators in the kitchen melted together, all the cooking tools are ruined, and the interior is covered in black soot.
“Everything is gone,” he said.
But the fire won’t slow Big Truck Foods’ business. Until Slores and his family figure out how to handle the purple truck, they’ll be using a plain white backup vehicle for business. They’ve had the white truck for awhile now, Slores said, and Big Truck Foods would be out serving the Central Coast again starting May 30.
In the near future, Slores said he hopes to design a customized truck to replace the damaged vehicle.
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 7, 2018.
