Dead body discovered in RV that burned up behind southeast Fresno home

Firefighters in Fresno putting out a blaze that consumed a recreational vehicle Tuesday afternoon made an unexpected discovery: a dead body.

The fire near the intersection of Orange and Lowe avenues was reported about 1:40 p.m.

It was initially reported as coming from an apartment building but was actually from a burning RV behind a home next door.

The identity of the victim was not yet known, Deputy Fire Chief Rich Cabral said.

Arson investigators and the Fresno Police Department are looking into what happened, he said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The person living in the single family home on the property told authorities the person living in the RV had permission to park there.

This is the first fire fatality of the year, Cabral said.

In 2018, there was one fire fatality all year.

So far, there have been 62 structure fires in Fresno this month, compared to 100 in January 2018.