Crews Battle Paper Fire 11 Hours

Firefighters took about 11 hours Saturday to extinguish a blaze in a boxcar that contained 77 tons of paper, fire officials said.

The fire was reported at 5:10 a.m., Oxnard Fire Department battalion Chief Richard Elliott said. Fourteen firefighters, three engines and a ladder truck were sent, Elliott said.

The freight car was on a side track in the 1100 block of East 3rd Street, waiting to be sent to Weyerhaeuser Co. in Santa Paula, Elliott said.

No one was injured, but the blaze was not put out until 4 p.m., Elliott said.

“It was a very tenacious fire,” Elliott said. Firefighters used two cranes to pull the rolls of paper out of the boxcar and a bulldozer to push them around so the fire could be put out, he said. “They weighed about 6,000 pounds each.”

The damage was set at $27,900 to the paper, which is used to make corrugated boxes, and about $5,000 to the boxcar, Elliott said.

Fire investigators ruled out accidental causes Saturday, Elliott said. But the investigation will not be finished for about a week, he said.