Arson and homicide investigators this afternoon are still at the scene of a fire at a grapevine nursery in Solano County outside Vacaville where a body was discovered earlier today.
The two-alarm fire at the Mercier California Grapevines nursery at 6760 Pleasants Valley Road burned or melted stacks of plastic storage bins, milk jug-size plastic planters and the wood framing and contents of a three-sided equipment shed, Vacaville Fire Protection District Chief Howard Wood said.
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The body was found near the burned debris of the shed, Solano County sheriff's Deputy Daryl Snedeker said.
The gender, race and age of the deceased person are unknown, but all of the nursery's employees are accounted for, Snedeker said.
The death is being investigated as a possible homicide because the body was found next to a structure that was not a residence, Snedeker said.
"It's definitely an extremely suspicious structure fire," he said.
No other structures at the nursery burned, Snedeker said.
The investigation by the arson and homicide investigators will be "a long, tedious process," Snedeker said.
Wood said the plastic bins that melted were in a 16-square-foot area. The fire district was called at 3:27 a.m. and arrived 12 minutes later, Wood said. The blaze was controlled in 90 minutes, he said.
The manager of the nursery lives on site, according to Wood.
The Vacaville Fire Department and Cal Fire also responded to the blaze.
Mercier California Grapevines exports grapevines internationally and has been at the Vacaville location since 2006, according to the nursery's website.
--Bay City News
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