Today at 1:50 p.m., a large industrial fire engulfed and destroyed five vacant industrial buildings on the south end of the 4500 block of Maple and Turner avenues.

The heat emitting from the fire was so intense that neighboring residential homes sustained property damage. Light posts and electric poles were damaged while residential mailboxes and automobile taillights melted from the temperature extremes.

According to neighbors, the old industrial buildings were recently undergoing changes. Some buildings were demolished while others were undergoing renovations.

Residents and witnesses say that during the past month, several people entered and left the property with various construction materials.

“I work the graveyard shift. So I woke up to sky high flames,” said former FCC student, Alex Vang, whose property and automobile were damaged by the intense heat of the 30 foot high flames. “There was no time to escape. It was too hot to go outside. We had to flee to the back of the house to escape the heat.”

The paint on Vang’s house was warped and bubbling. The plastic on his automobile’s taillight also melted. His neighbor’s mailbox melted beyond recognition.

According to fire department official, Koby Johns, the vacant industrial buildings contained, “wooden frame structures with old, dried wood.” Several small explosions were also reported.

Johns explained that due to the severity of the fire and because of the unique situation of an industrial building burning beside residential neighborhoods, the city’s water department was required to respond to the scene by increasing the water pressure to accommodate for the extraordinary need for firefighters.

Fresno’s fire department responded with over half of their available resources, including 16 apparatuses and more than 40 firefighting personnel. During the incident, the department’s medical response units were temporarily suspended throughout the city.

Johns said, “The fire is currently under investigation at this time.”

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