Fire badly damages historic downtown Modesto building, empty during coronavirus pandemic
An early-20th-century building in downtown Modesto, badly damaged by fire Monday morning, was a victim of the coronavirus stay-at-order, a co-owner said, looking on as firefighters worked to ensure the blaze was out.
“We would have been working in there, we would have caught it earlier and stopped it,” Kevin Aguirre of Orbit Creative Media said about the 7:40 a.m. fire at the two-story building at 915 14th St. “But we’re working remotely at home like we’re supposed to. ... We have another coronavirus victim.”
Modesto, Ceres and Stanislaus Consolidated fire department crews responded to what initially was reported as a vehicle fire, Modesto Battalion Chief Andrew Hunter said. They arrived to find a trailer behind the building in flames, which extended to the building, he said.
“They were able to quickly knock down the fire,” Hunter said at 8:25 a.m. “Crews are now working to check the interior of the building to ensure there’s no fire burning within.”
When firefighters arrived, the building appeared to be unoccupied, he said, and later checks confirmed no one was inside. “The fire appears to have started on the exterior, but investigators are working to confirm that.” Hunter said damage is estimated at $175,000.
Another building co-owner, Roberto Chiesa, said it was built in 1907 by a prominent physician, Fred DeLappe. He sold it in the 1930s to the Catholic church and it became a nunnery for the Sisters of the Holy Family, Chiesa said.
About 30 years after buying it, the church sold the building to Dan Boyd, a behavior wellness counselor for Modesto Junior College who also ran a counseling business from the eight-bedroom, 5,300-square-foot structure, Chiesa said.
“We bought it in the 1990s,” he said, adding that the building has tremendous structural integrity but had it not been for firefighters’ quick action, “it would have gone up and that would have been that.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
