Firefighters were able to quickly knock down the flames, but not before the fire destroyed a $50,000 backhoe tractor.
They say it could have been much worse.
"These apartments behind me have been framed in. The roofs are on, the siding is up. But there is no sheetrock yet. So the potential was there for the fires to get a good hold of the building. However the fires were caught before they got to that point," said Ted Semonious with the Fresno Fire Department.
Firefighters say this fire is likely linked to a string of small arson fires across southeast Fresno in the last month.
