Los Angeles, United States - August 23, 2024

08/23/2024 12:00 am (GMT-0700) | ONTARIO, Calif. – The president of the baseball field and an Ontario Fire Department Investigator were able to speak on camera.

Transcript:

Start with your first name, last name and what you are to the baseball court.

My name's Aaron Mathison and I'm the President of Ontario Eastern Little League.

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We play at the John Galvin Park, specifically Lattimer Field to the south of Jay Littleton.(...) This was traditionally the home field for our juniors and seniors teams. So our 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 year old teams.

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The park's been here since the early 20s. We've had major league games here. We've had minor league games here. It's named after the scout who scouted for the A's and for the Angels and for the Dodgers as early as the 20s.(...) And the city had just started paying attention to this park. It had been dilapidated, broken into by the homeless.

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I'm fairly certain that's probably what happened tonight.

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But they just started paying attention to here and it's just disheartening to see it going down.

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Was there ever any movies that were made here back in the past? Yeah, A League of Their Own with Tom Hanks Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell. Babe with John Goodman was shot here.(...) Amazon recently shot their A League of Their Own series here. I know they've basically if it's a baseball movie set in the 20s, there was at least one or two scenes shot here. Have you spoken to any residents here? How's this impacting them? I mean, we've got if you look all up and down the street, you have baseball lovers everywhere. There's a president from a neighboring league across the street who I was just talking with. One of the parents and one of our coaches is down the street. He's sitting there crying on the side of the road because this ballpark has been the heart of Ontario. It's the historical ballpark place to play for our kids. And now, unfortunately, we're not gonna be able to get a chance to play in it anymore.

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As our entire video or fighter farmer spoke to you regarding any issues or what might have been the cause?(...) I haven't been told. I know that we constantly have issues with homeless here at the park. In the past, they've broken into the building and cut the gas line so they could hook up their own gas for cooking stoves. They've rewired their electrical in there. And it's just fallen into disarray. And I unfortunately think that's what happened tonight. I hope no one was inside when it went off. I was talking with someone earlier, they said there was an explosion.(...) They heard an explosion at their house and then saw the flames. So I'm hoping no one was inside. But yeah, homelessness has been a huge problem here at the park. We have issues with them. We've had people fighting with us as we come for little league games. We have to do a paraphernalia check every time that we come onto the field. So it's just sad to see that it's coming to destruction rather than just issues that have been happening. As you've seen all this going down, how's, how you feel? What's going through your mind right now? It's upsetting. I mean, I grew up here in the city. This ballpark has been a part of the city's baseball history. I have two young kids in our league. And the dream has always been that they get to play at Jay Littleton. And we finally started seeing progress of something going towards it. Now, I don't know, I can almost guarantee that we're not gonna be able, my kids won't be able to play here ever again.

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And your first name and your title to the park? Aaron Mathison and I'm the president of Ontario Eastern League. Thank you.

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(Blank Audio) All right, go ahead and start with your first name, title, and what you see and what's going on. Okay, my name is Dan Kloosterman. I'm the fire investigation supervisor for the City of Ontario Fire Department.

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At 1127, we were called to this facility here,

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Jay Littleton Baseball Park.

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We responded with five fire engines, two trucks, two battalion chiefs, an investigator, and a 40 hour captain.

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When we arrived, we found the facility fully involved with fire.

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We were able to get a knock down on fire, no injuries to firefighters, first responders, or civilians so far as far as we know of. We are in the very early stages of the investigation, and it is currently under investigation. This is a sad day for the City of Ontario.

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This was started in 1937 and has a lot of history. A lot of people from the Southland came here to play baseball. And sad day for us in Ontario and many people in the Southland of California.(...) Can you share with your first name and title here? Sure, Dan Kloosterman, K-L-O-O-S-T-E-R-M-A-N. My title is fire investigation supervisor and P-I-O for the City of Ontario Fire Department.

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I was thinking about what that was for several years. You talked about that material, how could the spread or what's that for the spread of one or two?(...) How could that come out?

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Yeah, you know what? I don't know how many renovations this has gone through.

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I doubt that a lot of the wood is original from 1933 to 1933. It's 1937, but there's a lot of old wood in there. Old wood means dry wood, dry wood burns quickly.(...) So that's all I really can tell you about that.

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(Blank Audio) That is correct.

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(Blank Audio)(...) Right now we're just making sure that we have the fire fully extinguished.

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And we're gonna investigate it as the night goes on and into tomorrow. (Blank Audio)

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There's a good chance that we'll get some assistance by

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