Authorities are still working to figure out what caused a pickup truck to crash into a building in Northeast Bakersfield early Friday morning, causing a 3-alarm fire and doing $250,000 worth of damage.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the truck crashed into a building at a shopping center just after 1 a.m. in the area of Alta Vista Drive and Poplar Avenue.
Shortly after the truck hit the building, the building went up in flames.
"A second and third alarm was ordered due to the magnitude of fire and size of the building involved," Bakersfield Fire Department officials said in a press release.
Flames eventually spread into the attic, causing a partial roof collapse.
Neighbors surrounding the building say they heard a loud explosion waking them up early this morning. Juan Gomez says he could smell the smoke taking over his home and he quickly went outside to see what was going on.
No one was found injured in those businesses, fire investigators said. Three out of the four businesses have been damaged after the fire.
BFD says that the truck was stolen but did not find the driver when they arrived to the scene.
"We had a stolen pickup that did crash into the dispensary and once it went through it hit an interior wall that caught fire and ended up running the attic of that structure and damage three of the four units."
