HomeMy WebLinkAboutPetSmart DeclarationI, RODGER MAGGIO, declare:
1. At all relevant times, including October 27, 2019 at which time I responded to the report
of a fire at the PetSmart located at 1530 Froom Ranch, San Luis Obispo, California
("PetSmart Fire" or the subject "Premises"), I have served as Fire Marshal of the San
Luis Obispo Fire Department. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth below; if
called upon to testify thereto, I could and would do so competently.
2. I began my career in 1990 as a Fire Inspector/Investigator/Firefighter for the City of
Visalia. From 1996 through 2006, I served as the Deputy Fire Marshal for the City of
Gilroy. In 2006, I became the Fire Marshal/Director of Fire Prevention for Land
Development at the Madera County Resource Management Agency. Two years later, I
joined the City of San Luis Obispo, first as a Fire Marshal and eventually becoming the
Fire Marshal/Chief Building Official in 2019, returning to my original position in 2023.
3. Attached as Exhibit A are true and correct copies of my Fire Department's Report on the
PetSmart Fire, including my recount (at page 11) as to what I observed at the subject
Premises on October 27, 2019, namely: an aquatic unit in a back room at the Premises
comprised of an electric motor, pump, radiator for heat exchange and transformer situated
next to a plastic cart with supplies on top of the aquatic unit as well as a duplex outlet
above the unit on the wall.
4. The Report at Exhibit A hereto further sets forth my opinion as to the area of origin of the
PetSmart Fire, namely: the aquatic unit in the back room of the Premises comprised of
an electric motors, pumps, radiator for heat exchange and transformer situated next to a
plastic cart with supplies on top of the aquatic unit as well as a duplex outlet on the wall
above the unit.
5. Attached as Exhibit B are true and correct copies of photographs taken by Department on
the date of the PetSmart Fire that depict the subject aquatic unit as the plastic cart and
supplies placed on top thereof.
6. At no time did I observe a GCFI as part of the aquatic unit. However, given the proximity
of the aquatic unit to the electrical outlet, a GCFI should have been in place.
7. It is my view that the supplies placed atop the aquatic unit on the plastic cart at the
Premises, creating excess insulation on the aquatic unit, more likely than not contributed
to this accidental fire. In the future, commercial aquatic tanks should be placed without
crowding of other equipment, should be installed and maintained as per the manufactures
listing, as well as the adopted Fire, Mechanical, and Electrical Codes of the jurisdictions
in which they are placed in service.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 1 4 day of October 2023 at San Luis Obispo, California.
Rodger M ggio,
Fire Marshal At City Of San Luis Obispo