Fresno’s vacant buildings are a ‘nightmare’ for firefighters. Owners could face big fines
Commercial property owners who leave their Fresno buildings blighted and vacant soon could face penalties.
The Fresno City Council is set to vote at its Thursday meeting on a proposed ordinance that would establish the same standards for commercial property owners that city officials enforce for residential property owners. If vacant commercial buildings become a nuisance or safety hazard that’s left unaddressed by owners, they’ll be fined.
Councilmember Miguel Arias penned the proposed ordinance in hopes of relieving some burden for city firefighters and neighborhoods.
“My hope is that this is a clear message to those owners who are land banking and sitting on their commercial properties waiting for the big cash payout from the investor that we’re no longer going to make it dirt cheap to simply sit on a vacant commercial blighted property,” Arias said during a news conference Tuesday in front of one problem property on Fulton Street.
Proposed ordinance
The proposed changes to the city’s existing ordinance would require commercial property owners to install a fire protection system and security system if a building is planned to be vacant. It also requires owners to remove heating systems, overgrown plants or grass, or other fire hazards, secure the property, and post “no trespassing” signs.
If owners fail to comply with code enforcement warnings, they could face fines from $2,500 to $10,000. Owners who buy vacant buildings will have 60 days to bring them into compliance.
In extreme cases, Arias said the city would force a building into receivership and take control of the property.
Code enforcement will enforce the ordinance, and Arias acknowledged the city council likely would need to add additional staffing to the department to handle the workload.
Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld, Nelson Esparza, and Tyler Maxwell told The Bee they plan to support the proposal. Councilmembers Luis Chavez, Mike Karbassi, and Esmeralda Soria said they were still looking into the ordinance. Karbassi and Soria said blighted buildings create a problem in all council districts and need to be addressed.
Sample Sanitarium
Arias held his news conference in front of the Sample Sanitarium, also known as the Sequoia Hospital, on Fulton Street near the Highway 180 overpass. The building has been vacant for decades, the location of numerous fires and illegal dumping, and has become a nuisance for neighbors, he said.
“If you look around you in this neighborhood, it’s a historic neighborhood where the owners take pride in their properties. They’ve invested in their own properties,” Arias said. “And yet this has become the anchor and the face for this neighborhood because of the failure to invest and improve the property.”
Arias said city leaders tried to work with the owners and even connected them with buyers and investors to rehab the property.
Esther Carver — the executive director for the Lowell Community Development Corporation and residents of the Lowell neighborhood where the old sanitarium is located — said the vacant and blighted building is a nuisance. People break into it almost daily and cut through the chain-link fence. There’s visible fire damage on the exterior.
Plus, it’s a shame to see a historical building go to waste, she said, especially because many residents have a connection to the former hospital.
“This place could be used for so many wonderful things,” she said. “I think we all value the building. We value its history. So it’s just been really hard to just see it be vacant and know that there’s so much potential. It’s just not going to be developed.”
The owner of the property could not be reached Tuesday.
Fire resources
Fires at vacant buildings put a strain on the city’s limited fire fighting resources, Arias said. Instead of responding to medical calls or conducting inspections, firefighters are putting out fires at vacant buildings.
So far this year, Fresno firefighters have already responded to 25 fires at vacant commercial buildings, said Shane Brown, a public information officer for the Fresno Fire Department.
“It’s great to hear our city leadership is being proactive about something that’s been an issue in the fire department for many years,” he said. “Vacant buildings are a nightmare for firefighters for many reasons.”
When firefighters respond to fires at vacant buildings, there are many unknown factors, including whether the building has power or gas, whether people are inside, and whether it’s structurally sound.
Firefighters mark buildings that have repeatedly burned and are known to be structurally compromised with a red “X,” so they know it’s unsafe to fight the fire inside.
“Firefighters shouldn’t be risking their lives for basically abandoned buildings that no one knows anything about,” Brown said.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 3:09 PM.