A fire at KESQ's studios in Thousand Palms knocked the local television station off the air Thursday morning, Oct. 15, just seconds after its 5 a.m. newscast began.
The fire was reported at 5:03 a.m. at the commercial building in the 31-200 block of Dunham Way, according to Cal Fire's Riverside County Unit. The first firefighters to arrive reported a small fire toward the rear of the building, which was quickly contained. No injuries were reported, Cal Fire and KESQ said.
"News Channel 3 staff are working to restore systems and return to normal operations as quickly as possible," the station said on its website.
KESQ chief meteorologist Patrick Evans said in a Facebook video that the fire alarm sounded about 30 seconds into the newscast. When he opened
a door behind the studio, he saw flames reaching the ceiling in an adjacent equipment room.
Morning anchor Angela Chen described seeing a wall of flames and smoke when Evans opened the door, according to a video she posted on Instagram. Fellow morning anchor Jeff Stahl grabbed a fire extinguisher and began spraying the flames before the building's sprinkler system activated.
Although the fire was confined to equipment cages behind the main studio, smoke spread throughout the building, and sprinklers ran for about 45 minutes, soaking cameras and other equipment, Evans said.
The cause of the fire remained unknown Thursday morning, though Evans and Chen both said the equipment room contained lithium batteries used for their cameras.
Firefighters initially requested a second alarm but canceled it while crews were en route. Cal Fire said crews would remain at the building for several hours for salvage and overhaul, a process that involves checking for remaining hot spots and preventing further damage.
KESQ switched to network programming after the fire interrupted its morning broadcast. Evans said the station hoped to resume broadcasting at noon, possibly from a second studio elsewhere in the building.
"As a news team, we much prefer to report the news than to be a part of it," Evans said in one of his updates on Facebook.
Jennifer Cortez covers education and breaking news in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Fire at KESQ studio knocks morning newscast off air
