Modesto commercial fire escalates to three-alarm blaze, multiple departments respond

(FOX40.COM) — Several fire crews were called on for a massive commercial fire in Modesto Friday morning.

Shortly after midnight, the Modesto Fire Department was dispatched to a building in the 600 block of I Street for reports of smoke in the area. Upon arrival at the scene, fire crews found a large one-story boarded-up commercial structure with fire inside the building.

The incident started as a commercial structure fire response but turned into a three-alarm fire that required ten engines, three trucks, three battalion chiefs, and one paramedic fire captain from Modesto, Stanislaus Consolidated, and Turlock Fire Departments to fight the flames.

Firefighters said flames in the building threatened a neighboring business, but they were able to extinguish them with “minimal fire damage to the building next door.” Crews reportedly battled the fire for nearly four hours. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit.

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