Hardware Store Fire Linked to Oily Rags

The San Diego Fire Department’s Metro Arson Strike Team has determined that a Thanksgiving Day fire to a downtown San Diego hardware store started spontaneously in a pile of oily rags, a department spokesman said.

Employees of San Diego Hardware, 840 5th Ave., had apparently been staining wood the night before with an “organic oil stain,” Fire Department spokesman Larry Carlson said.

“The rags used in the staining process were left in a pile on the floor and the result was spontaneous ignition of the rags,” Carlson said. The workers will not be charged, he said.