Fresno furniture store fire burns to the ground, apartments threatened but only one hurt
A southeast Fresno furniture store was declared a total loss after a fire ripped through the business Saturday afternoon, threatened apartments next door and left a bystander hurt.
Fresno Fire Department crews responded about 4 p.m. to Cedar and Belmont avenues and saw heavy flames already inside the building. Firefighters could not enter because of the size and intensity of the fire, Battalion Chief Kirk Wanless said.
Total losses were estimated at $200,000.
The store was closed at the time, though Wanless said the owner was there earlier. The owner was alerted remotely by an alarm company after the fire started. The cause is under investigation.
One person, who was at the nearby set of apartments, was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, Wanless said. The apartments were not damaged.
Wanless said it began as a “challenging incident” because another business and the apartments were threatened.
“Especially at a building where you have an intensity of fire due to the fuel load,” Wanless said. “We arrived and we had businesses on either side. An apartment on one side and a business on the other side. Both of them being threatened by this fire.
“We had to prioritize what we’re going to do and obviously we didn’t want the fire to grow and spread to other businesses so we started there and started working in so we can finally get to the point of origin and put out this fire. It was touch and go for awhile. It’s a very complex thing in situation like this.”
Westbound lanes of Belmont were closed but expected to reopen early Saturday night.
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 7:14 PM.
