Fire chars structure, screen at shuttered drive-in theater

A small fire Friday burned a storage building below the west screen of the old drive-in movie theater on Newcomb Street.

About half of the structure was destroyed, Porterville Fire Department Lt. Mike McGill said Saturday.

“There was a report of smoke in the area,” McGill said. “Somebody called it in.”

The case, according to McGill, is under investigation for suspicious behavior.

“That’s all I can tell you about that,” he said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 10:13 p.m. to the location of the fire, north of Olive Avenue, and had the flames under control by 10:45 p.m., McGill said.

Fourteen firefighters, two engines and a ladder truck were sent by the Fire Department.

Six firefighters and two engines from the Tulare County Fire Department also battled the fire.

A one point flames raced up the large mivie screen structure, firefighters reported early Saturday morning.

-- Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1045.