Fire displaces family in downtown Modesto

A family of four was displaced when a fire broke out at a home in downtown Modesto on Monday.

Modesto firefighters were dispatched to 110 Bodem St. about 5:15 p.m. for a report of clothes on fire in the living room, said Battalion Chief Randy Anderson.

The residents were standing in the front yard when the first firefighters arrived, and the living room was engulfed in flames that were spreading toward the back of the house.

Modesto police officers were called to the scene to handle “hysterical neighbors,” said Modesto Fire Department spokeswoman Jessica Smart.

Five engines and a truck responded to the fire, which was brought under control within about 10 minutes, Anderson said. “It’s an older built house with plaster, so it kept a lot of the fire contained to one area, but it also makes the heat go up,” he said. “It will have to be gutted out and rebuilt from the inside out, basically.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation. It caused about $65,000 in damage.

The American Red Cross is assisting a woman and three teenagers who were displaced by the fire.

At the same time as the fire on Bodem, three other engines were responding to medical-aid calls and two more were dispatched to a microwave fire, Smart said.

Because of thinly stretched resources and multiple calls for service, Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District assisted with a truck company and battalion chief for the microwave fire call.

This story was originally published November 24, 2014 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Fire displaces family in downtown Modesto."