Two-alarm fire in south Modesto displaces seven, injures firefighter

A two-alarm fire displaced seven people and sent a firefighter to the hospital Sunday afternoon.

The fire broke out around 2:30 p.m. at a vacant home on the southwest corner of Seattle Street and Amador Avenue but quickly spread to two neighboring residents.

The vacant home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived and fire had spread to the carport and siding of two occupied homes to the south, said Modesto Fire Battalion Chief Jesse Nicasio.

Firefighters directed a hose to that side of the fire so that the residents could evacuate, he said.

While a firefighter was inside one of the occupied homes pulling down ceiling for ventilation, a large piece of it fell on top of him. The firefighter was taken to Memorial Medical Center for precautionary reasons and was cleared to return to duty, Nicasio said.

The vacant home where the fire started was destroyed and damage to the two other homes made them inhabitable. Five adults and two children were displaced and received assistance from the American Red Cross.

Residents who reported the fire said they heard screaming from inside the vacant home while it was on fire. Firefighters searched the home and found no one, but Nicasio said three transients later arrived on scene and admitted to living in the home and being there when the fire broke out .

He said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.