Barn, school and business fires among incidents in busy day for Stanislaus crews
Fires at a school, two barns and a business were among incidents that kept crews from several Stanislaus County departments busy from Saturday morning through early Sunday.
About 7:45 a.m. Saturday, the Modesto and Stanislaus Consolidated fire departments responded to a report of a poultry barn on fire on Wellsford Road near Parker Road, northeast of Empire.
Crews arrived to find six adjacent squab coops, with one burning, said Stanislaus Consolidated Battalion Chief Rick Bussell. Fortunately, the fire was on the leeward side of the rows of coops, “so the wind was in our favor,” he said.
There was significant damage to one coop and minor damage to another, Bussell said. He had no estimate on the number of squab killed by the fire, but said it was a small percentage of the number of birds on site.
The Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit is working the case. Bussell said a fire investigator told him the cause most likely was electrical.
Modesto and Stanislaus crews, joined by Ceres firefighters, responded to another barn fire about 9:10 Saturday night, this one on the 2900 block of Ustick Road, west of Ceres.
There are no hydrants in the area, so the Westport and Mountain View fire districts assisted with water tenders, Modesto Battalion Chief Jesse Nicasio said.
The fire at the old, wooden barn was small, and as crews were setting up to attack it, a person approached to report a vehicle on fire farther south on Ustick, as well as an orchard fire, Nicasio said.
The fires were extinguished and were determined to be in Westport Fire District’s area, so command was transferred to that agency. Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit is investigating.
Shortly before the second barn fire — about 8:54 p.m. — Modesto and Ceres crews assisted the Turlock Fire Department with a commercial structure fire on the 300 block of B Street in that city.
Department spokesman Capt. Jason Bernard said in a text message that there was “extensive damage/loss to the warehouse,” which stored construction materials and equipment. The attached office was used for drafting, he said, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Just before 2 a.m. Sunday, the Modesto Police Department was investigating an alarm at Mildred Perkins Elementary School on Blue Bird Drive at Snyder Avenue when officers found smoke and heat from one of the classrooms. Modesto and Stanislaus Consolidated units were called to the scene.
Crews forced entry into a modular classroom and were able to keep the fire from spreading, Nicasio said. There was extensive damage to classroom, he said, and the fire extended into the subfloor, so firefighters had to cut out a significant amount of flooring.
The fire did not appear suspicious, Nicasio said, and is being investigated by the Stanislaus Regional FIU. The school is in the Salida Union School District.
Also early Sunday, about 1:30 a.m., Modesto, Ceres and Stanislaus crews responded to reports of a residential structure fire at Lombardo and Anthony avenues in south Modesto. They extinguished a fire that had fully involved a travel trailer and extended to a fence. Stanislaus Regional FIU is investigating.
There were other incidents crews responded to Saturday. Among them:
- About 1:45 p.m., Modesto and Ceres put out a smoldering fire in a bedroom on the 400 block of Mt. Hood Court in south Modesto. One resident was evaluated for smoke inhalation by paramedics but refused treatment.
- About 7:40 p.m., Modesto firefighters put out a vegetation fire along the Tuolumne River at Neece Drive. About a tenth of an acre burned.
- And about 8:30 p.m., a Modesto crew extinguished vegetation and trash on fire on the 1200 block of La Loma Avenue.
This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 2:07 PM.
