They were detained by fire investigators, but no arrests were made

Fresno fire investigators detained two people at an apartment fire near downtown Fresno under suspicion of arson, but nobody was arrested.

Deputy Fire Marshal Don MacAlpine said Wednesday that the two people didn’t start the fire. Witnesses saw them coming out of a first floor unit of the abandoned complex in the 400 block of South Woodrow Avenue that was occupied by transients, but the fire began on the second floor, he said.

“Those two were cleared of responsibility for the fire,” MacAlpine said.

Just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters responded to the fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky southeast of downtown Fresno.

The vacant complex is known by neighbors to be occupied by transients.

The cause of the fire is officially undetermined, but it remains under investigation, MacAlpine said.

“When there is that much fire destruction, it is not very probable we could find a cause,” he said.

Damage was reported at $70,000.

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 2:00 PM with the headline "They were detained by fire investigators, but no arrests were made."