Modesto and Stanislaus firefighters battle two house fires

After a quiet December in terms of structure fires, the Modesto Fire Department had two of them to fight Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The first dispatch was just before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Firefighters arrived at a home on the 1700 block of Las Vegas Street, across from Hanshaw Middle School, to find the single-story structure well involved in flames and a neighboring home immediately threatened.

The house on fire had previously burned and was considered vacant, said Battalion Chief Tim Tietjen. Firefighters searched the house and confirmed it was empty.

“They had the fire under control in 15 minutes and spent one hour overhauling the fire,” Tietjen said. Damage to the house is estimated at $30,000, and the cause is under investigation.

Modesto Fire Department and Stanislaus Consolidated crews both responded to the night’s second structure fire, reported about 2:15 a.m. on the 1700 block of Connie Way, off Empire Avenue near Orville Wright Elementary.

It was nearly a “cookie-cutter” of the first fire, with the first arriving Stanislaus engine also finding one home well-involved in flames and an adjacent home immediately threatened, Tietjen said.

“The bulk of fire was controlled within 20 minutes,” he said, “but the roof collapsed and created difficulty in overhauling the fire.” Crews spent about two hours ensuring the blaze was out.

There were no injuries, and damage was estimated at $50,000.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. According to neighbors, Tietjen said, the home was “basically occupied in a state of disrepair. It was probably set to be demolished, but someone was known to stay there. The house was a total loss.”

This story was originally published December 31, 2015 at 8:34 AM with the headline "Modesto and Stanislaus firefighters battle two house fires."