Home burns down in southwest Fresno

Firefighters responded Friday night to a burning house at 924 Mariposa St. in southwest Fresno.

After assessing the situation and determining that the house had been abandoned for some time, Fire Battalion Chief Thomas Cope said firefighters made a defensive decision to let the home burn, rather than attempt to save it, in an effort to protect other homes nearby.

The vacant home collapsed after being engulfed for nearly 20 minutes, and firefighters worked to contain the flames.

Cope said that there had been structure fires in the neighborhood in the past, but investigators had yet to determine the cause of Friday night’s fire.

This story was originally published August 7, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Home burns down in southwest Fresno."