City-owned home burns

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Fire officials say it appears someone intentionally lit a fire Monday night that destroyed a city-owned home in Modesto's Dry Creek Park where police last week found $1 million worth of marijuana plants.

No injuries were reported. The fire's cause as being investigated, but arson is suspected, said Modesto Fire Battalion Chief Hugo Patino.

He said the fire started in multiple spots inside the large white farmhouse near the El Vista bridge.

Central Valley Report video

There was a fire last evening at a farmhouse along Dry Creek near the corner of Scenic Drive and Oakdale road in Modesto. Last week, authorities raided the property and found drugs there. The damaged house is pictured on Tuesday afternoon (11-3-09). (JOAN BARNETT LEE / jlee@modbee.com)

City workers had been at the house earlier in the day, boarding up and securing the house with wire mesh, Patino said. The home had been vandalized with spray paint after the recent marijuana bust.

Patino said some of the boards and wire mesh were removed before the fire started.

About 9 p.m., firefighters were called to the house in the 600 block of El Vista Avenue, just south of Scenic Drive, after nearby residents reported seeing the fire.

The first firefighters to arrive found flames had engulfed the house.

Four engines, a truck and 22 firefighters attacked the blaze and had it under control within 30 minutes.

Firefighters remained at the scene overnight to extinguish remaining pockets of fire.

The flames gutted the home's interior and significantly damaged the attic and the stairway to the second floor.

The fire caused an estimated $300,000 in damage.

On Oct. 26, a tip from a utility crew led Modesto police to a $1 million marijuana growing operation in the home in the Dry Creek flood plain.

The house drew the attention of authorities because it was using an excessive amount of power, according to a Modesto Irrigation District crew that was investigating the repeated failure of a transformer near El Vista and Scenic.

Police arrested four men on suspicion of cultivating marijuana at the house.

The city leases the house to a man through Wolverine Property Management, which has overseen five homes in city parks since 2005.

Officers found 560 marijuana plants and a "sophisticated" growing operation hooked up throughout the home.