Fire hits vacant Modesto fourplex

MODESTO -- A blaze Saturday evening caused $250,000 in damage to a vacant fourplex at 1017 Roselawn Ave., the Modesto Regional Fire Authority reported.

Shortly before 7 p.m., fire engines were dispatched to the smoking structure in south Modesto.

Witnesses had reported seeing people ins the apartments earlier, but those people were soon accounted for and were not injured, officials said.

The boarded-up windows made it difficult to attack the blaze, which swept through the attic and caused the roof to collapse. Crews entered one apartment and pulled the ceiling to shoot water at the overhead flames.

The fire was controlled in about 70 minutes. The cause is under investigation.