Second Alarm Fire Consumes Historic Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario

ONTARIO, Calif., Aug 23 (KNN) — Flames engulfed and destroyed a beloved and historic baseball stadium at Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario late Thursday night to the dismay and heartbreak of the community.

The Ontario Fire Department and Ontario Police Department received multiple 911 calls of a large fire at Jay Littleton Ball Park at 1076 N. Grove Avenue shortly before 11:30 p.m.

Once firefighters arrived on scene, they located a large baseball stadium with heavy smoke and fire showing from the stadium and dugout. The Ontario FD upgraded the fire to second alarm status requesting additional resources due to the heavy flames.

The Ontario FD had also requested their arson investigation team to respond to the scene. Currently, the cause of the fire is unknown.

The ball park was officially dedicated to Joe “Jay” Littleton in 1998 and is located within John Galvin Park on the southeast corner of Fourth Street and Grove Avenue. According to sources, people started playing baseball at the location over 80 years ago. Many film crews have used the location in movies such as Eight Men Out, The Babe Ruth Story and A League of Their Own.

Aaron Mathison, President of Ontario Eastern Little League, spoke of the use of the park for major and minor league games. He told Key News Network that the city had just started paying attention to the park as it had become dilapidated and broken into by the homeless.

KNN also spoke with Dan Kloosterman, Fire Supervisor for the city of Ontario Fire Department. He said they were able to achieve knockdown of the flames with no injuries to firefighters, first responders, or civilians so far as he knows. The investigation into the cause is in the very early stages.

“This is a sad day for the city of Ontario,” said Kloosterman.

Randy Dominguez, Video Journalist / KNN