Firefighters kept busy with blazes in Patterson, Modesto
A two-alarm fire that started in a barn just outside Patterson spread to an outbuilding where rabbits were housed, killing as many as 40 of the animals.
The Thursday morning fire was the most recent in a rash of structure blazes around the county during a 16-hour period.
The barn in the 1200 block of Almond Avenue was engulfed in flames when firefighters from the Patterson Fire Department and the West Stanislaus Fire Protection District arrived at the property of one of their own.
A captain with the Patterson Fire Department was using a garden hose in an effort to suppress the fire’s movement toward his home, the structure containing the rabbits and another outbuilding, said Fire Chief Steve Hall.
Because of the threat the fire caused to the home and other buildings on the property, a second alarm was called, bringing three engines and four water tenders for a total of 22 personnel.
It took about 50 minutes to get the fire under control but not before it extended into the rabbit dwelling.
Firefighters pulled out as many of the animals as they could, but 30 to 40 were killed. Hall didn’t know how many rabbits were there in total, but he said the majority of them survived.
The barn and its contents were destroyed. Hall said the captain’s family used it for storage, including antique family heirlooms.
Hall said the cause of the fire is still undetermined but “we are looking at an electrical device in the barn.”
Later Thursday morning, fire torched a car that had been dumped near the Tuolumne River under the Highway 99 overpass.
The night before, a blaze broke out in a row of juniper bushes alongside a central Modesto home.
There’s “no explainable ignition source in the area of the bushes, which were the point of origin,” said Modesto Fire Department spokeswoman Jessica Smart.
Nobody was at the home on the corner of Mount Vernon Drive and Kathrine Avenue when the fire broke out about 7:15 p.m.
The home suffered extensive damage when the heat of the flames blew out the windows and the fire crept inside.
A small ember from the fire is believed to have caused a small roof fire at a home on nearby Fremont Avenue that was reported about 30 minutes later.
At the same time, firefighters from the Woodland Avenue Fire Protection District battled a blaze in a detached garage on Woodland Avenue near Rosemore Avenue. The fire destroyed the garage.
This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Firefighters kept busy with blazes in Patterson, Modesto."