Voodoo Store's Candle Sparks Blaze

SAN DIEGO -- A voodoo supply shop east of San Diego's Center City burned Sunday, damaging an adjacent taco shop and displacing the proprietor. Centro Botanico La Santisima was a total loss, firefighters said.

Several neighboring houses in the Grant Hill neighborhood were evacuated when the fire broke out at 4:18 a.m. at the store at 2553 Imperial Ave., San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick said.

A fire dispatcher said the fire was caused by a lit candles that ignited some sort of combustible goods. It caused $250,000 in damage to the structure and destroyed $90,000 in products inside the shop, the dispatcher said.

The store sells herbs, amulets and significant items for devotees of the Santeria and other religions.

The intensity of the blaze caused damage to the adjacent La Imperial Taco Shop, 2557 Imperial Ave. and caused moderate damage to a home near the rear of the business, Battrick said.

A woman in the home was displaced by the fire and the Red Cross is assisting her, Battrick said.

The sergeant said the smoke was so intense that firefighters evacuated some residents in the neighborhood to the community room at the SDPD's Central Station while the smoky blaze was fought.