Fire burns in vacant upstairs portion of commercial building in Modesto

Firefighters responding to a report of light smoke at a commercial building off Yosemite Boulevard on Monday were told by an area resident that he heard an explosion. A shop owner on the first floor of the building said she, too, heard a blast from the vacant upstairs area where the fire was found.

The call went out at 12:41 p.m., and because the building is commercial, drew five engines, two trucks and two battalion chiefs, said Modesto Fire Department Division Chief Michael Lillie. The Ceres Fire Department and Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District also responded.

“We have not yet confirmed any explosion or the cause of fire,” said Lillie, who added that investigators still were talking with the man who reported hearing the blast.

The first firefighters on the scene saw smoke coming from a door on the back side of the building on the 100 block of North Santa Cruz Avenue. Upstairs, they encountered “a little bit of fire,” Lillie said. “It looked like it possibly had been burning for some time” and wasn’t noticed until smoke found an exit point.

To ventilate the building, firefighters broke an upstairs window and used a large fan. Investigators were waiting for smoke to clear to continue their work, Lillie said. The damage from the fire is estimated at $5,000 to $10,000, according to the Modesto Fire Department.

In late October, a fire damaged a massage parlor in the building. Firefighters had to force entry into Yosemite Health Massage, which was unoccupied at the time. That fire was contained to the business’s office, but smoke caused damage to contents of the neighboring business, Blue Goose Antiques & Collectables.

Monday’s fire was in the upstairs portion of the former massage parlor, Blue Goose owner Angie Fowler and her brother Michael Alexander said.

They said the October fire occurred because a former tenant had broken into the building, was living there and using a lot of electrical cords. Alexander said he saw the former tenant leaving the area Monday.

After the October fire, Fowler said, it took her months to reopen. She hadn’t been to the upstairs portion of her shop after Monday’s fire, but said that if there’s smoke damage again, she could be closed a month. “Linens can be cleaned, but it takes some time,” she said.

Fowler said she’s been in business for five years. She said the former massage parlor was a source of drug and prostitution problems.

While her rent is cheap, she said, she’s fed up with the area and wants to move.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Fire burns in vacant upstairs portion of commercial building in Modesto."