A black truck attached to a taco van caught fire outside of the Outdoor Theater during the Noche de Cultura event. Two explosions were heard before some audience members were aware of the fire. Officer Blair was the first responder to the scene. An attempt was made to put the fire out but the fire extinguisher was empty, something Blair said needs to be addressed by the department.

“There was actually propane tanks in the back, so that was making me nervous but we were able to take them out in time. Thank God it’s on Friday because there’s not as many people around. It’s my first time dealing with a fire, never done a fire report, there’s always a first time I guess.”

BC student Jesse Najera ran to his car to retrieve his fire extinguisher, which was used but was not enough to put the fire out. The Bakersfield Fire Department was called to assist and Engine 201 arrived five minutes later and were able to successfully put out the fire. Fire Captain Brad Ward said they got the call at around 6:10 p.m. Ward was accompanied by two other fire fighters and their fire engineer who drives the engine and is in charge of the hose pressure.

“It’s actually a pretty common pick up that we get [calls for] regularly, obviously not for the owners who are devastated but, it’s a pretty common fire.” Said Ward.

Some students that were present when the fire started shared some of their participation and theories related to the fire. Rayven Acosta-Webb ,23, who was previously in the Air force, said, “I have experience with engines and stuff and eventually the fire would have spread. It’s lucky it didn’t get to the gas tank; I think overall everyone acted as responsibly as possible.”

Arisve Pimentel was the student to make the call to Public Safety about the fire. She said that her and some other SGA officers noticed the front of the truck was on fire and that she called it in. Pimentel was later seen comforting the taco truck owners and reassuring the employees.

No one was harmed in the incident and the event went on as scheduled.