Pinedale apartment buildings destroyed in early morning fire

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- An early morning fire destroyed two apartment buildings in Pinedale on Wednesday.

Flames broke out just after 1 am on Beechwood and College Avenues.

Crews were forced to fight the flames from the outside because of the intensity of the fire.

The two buildings were fenced off and under construction, so no one should have been inside.

The cause remains under investigation.

"On average, the city of Fresno we respond to about 1000 structure fires a year, statistically that's just the data from over the last 10 years looking at those numbers," Fresno Fire Public Information Officer, Josh Sellers said. "On average, of those 1000 roughly 10% occur in vacant structures."

Action News spoke to the property manager of the apartment buildings.

She didn't want to speak on camera but told Action News she was frustrated.

She says the property was vacant for about a week while crews were working on other projects. She added there had been homeless people on the property several times.

According to Fresno Fire, half of the vacant structure fires in the city are due to homeless activity.

"You might imagine that you'd see more of it during the colder seasons as temperatures drop and folks are looking to stay warm that that may be a contributing factor, but with the numbers, it seems to be throughout the year," Sellers said.

The city of Fresno does open four warming shelters throughout the city from 7 pm to 7 am when temperatures drop below 35 degrees.

Cots and blankets are provided to those inside.

As for preventing fires, Fresno Fire says there are precautions property owners can take to avoid possible future fires like the one in Pinedale.

"Property owners and neighbors, just encourage everyone to be vigilant and maintain the property," Sellers explained. "You want to make sure it's secure so folks can't easily gain access to it and keep an eye on it. If you start to see activity, you want to report that."

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