Fire at vacant Modesto house spreads to neighboring home, displacing three people

A fire that began in a vacant house northeast of McHenry and Orangeburg avenues Tuesday morning spread to a neighboring home, displacing three adults.

Multiple calls were received about 4 a.m. regarding the fire on East Coolidge Avenue at Ila Way, Modesto Fire Department Battalion Chief Andrew Hunter said.

The Modesto and Ceres departments initially responded with five engine crews and a truck crew. Finding a single-story house burning and threatening nearby structures, they sounded a second alarm, which brought two more engines and a truck.

The house was vacant and already had sustained fire damage in December, Hunter said, but five people were unlawfully staying in it. Utilities already had been shut off, and one of the people staying in the house told firefighters there was a candle burning in the room where the fire originated. The cause of the blaze — such as whether the candle was knocked over or burned all the way down and then spread — had not been definitively determined as of Tuesday morning, Hunter said.

Firefighters fought the blaze and worked to protect a neighboring home on Ila Way that ended up also catching fire. In that house, they found fire in the attic, removed part of the ceiling and extinguished the flames.

The five staying in the vacant house and the three living in the neighboring home all got out on their own, without injury, Hunter said. The American Red Cross was called to provide assistance. A firefighter suffered a puncture wound but was evaluated at the scene and able to resume battling the blaze, he said.

Damage was estimated at $50,000 to each house. The vacant home suffered much heavier damage, but the fire investigator’s estimate took into account that it already had been burned.

This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 11:38 AM.