By: Kristofer Noceda, Cheryl Hurd and Pete Suratos/NBC Bay Area
Fireworks from a Lunar New Year celebration may be to blame for a two-alarm fire at a San Jose strip mall, authorities said late Monday, marring a usually joyous festival marked around the globe in many Asian communities.
People light joss sticks as they pray at the Dongyue Temple in Beijing. In San Jose, authorities say fireworks might be the cause of a two-alarm fire at a New Year celebration. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Hundreds of people each year gather at the Grand Century Shopping Mall parking lot for the celebration and fireworks show at 1111 Story Road, an area known as Little Saigon for its large Vietnamese population. This year’s celebration is to honor the Year of the Monkey.
Early in the evening, crowds in the parking lot “oohed” and “aahed” over the fireworks popping off in the parking lot, despite the fact that San Jose has a ban on the amateur pyrotechnics display.
At one point, just after 8:30 p.m., a cypress tree next to a store burst into flames, which spread to the outside of a building.
On Tuesday morning, the mall’s parking lot was littered with debris. Clean-up crews, toting leaf-blowers and shovels, spent all morning clearing up the trash.
San Jose Fire Capt. Cesar Martinez said he is not exactly sure that fireworks caused the fire even though early indications would point to them as the likely cause.
As of Tuesday morning, San Jose police officer Albert Morales said he was not aware of any citations or arrests as a result of the fire.
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