Grass Valley Honda Dealership Destroyed by Fire: Arson Suspect in Custody
Photo of suspect Elizabeth Huston at the scene. Photo credit: Jessica Gray (with permission)
Sometime after 3pm on Friday, August 16, 2024, a woman was seen starting a fire in the field behind Sierra Motor Sports in Grass Valley (located at 2121 Nevada City Highway). Soon, the Honda dealership Sierra Motor Sports was engulfed in flames. People shopping in the Fowler Center (where B&C Hardware and Savemart are located) could see gray and then black clouds of smoke. The smoke could be seen far south.
Watch video footage below or watch on YouTube.
Photos by CalFire NEU. Click on any photo to enlarge.
Bioggio Pizarro, who saw the fire, said, “there was smoke pouring out of Sierra Motor Sports.” Owen McGyver, another witness, said, “I saw a bunch of other homeless people walking away from the fire.” He added, “We were talking up there, they said well over a million bucks of stuff is gone.”
Two employees who preferred to remain unnamed estimated the loss at $1 million of inventory plus the structure itself. The structure was destroyed by the fire.
Photos by Sierra Thread. Click on any image to enlarge.
Elizabeth Huston. Source: Nevada County Sheriff's Office (booking shot from previous offense)
An arson suspect is in custody, named Elizabeth Huston, a 49-year-old Nevada County woman who was arrested on August 13, 2024 for outstanding warrants. She was arrested on August 10, 2024 for auto theft, which was a repeated offense. She has multiple prior offenses, including driving under the influence (DUI) and possession of drugs. One business owner describes Huston as “a regular here in [Brunswick] basin.”
Huston was booked at 6:07pm into the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility on charges of arson involving an inhabited structure, Statute 451(B), with a $250,000 bail, according to the Grass Valley Police Department.
Photos of Elizabeth Huston at the scene of the fire. Photos by Jessica Gray, posted with permission.
Jessica Gray said, “I saw her start the fire! She bent over, and when she got up, the flames started roaring. She was yelling that she started the fire.” Gray’s husband called 911. “The response time of our wonderful fire department and the cops was impeccable! I didn’t even have enough time to get my hands on her before the cops were there arresting her.”
Multiple people commenting on GVPD’s social media with comments such as, “Are they gonna let her out again?” and “many many times many people have called in what goes down on Gates Place. Completely ridiculous that has been allowed to continue over there.”
A tanker flew above and dropped a red retardant line along the freeway to keep the fire from spreading across the freeway while helicopter water drops continued.
The fire’s forward progress was stopped around 4:30pm with resources remaining on the scene to make sure no spot fires would appear.
Around 4pm, the following zones had mandatory evacuations: GRS-E242, GRS-E246, GRS-E271, and NCO-E251. The evacuation order was lifted a little before 5pm. However, Nevada City Highway from Gates Place to Banner Lava Cap Road still remains closed to residents as of 5pm.