Downtown Fresno building fire blamed on vagrants

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fire officials say a Friday fire at an abandoned building in Downtown Fresno was caused by homeless people.

The High-Speed Rail Authority says this has happened before, once at the Old Flamingo Inn on Motel Drive.

The agency says they have put up fences and have CHP and private security patrolling the buildings it owns to prevent this from happening, but now they are planning to make changes to its demolition process to put an end to it all together.

"We are moving up the process making sure that our demolition team speeds up the process so that something like this doesn't happen in the future," Toni Tinoco with the HSR Authority explained.

Fresno Fire says homeless people taking over vacant buildings is often the result of cold weather.

They want anyone who sees it happening to contact police.