Former Carl’s Jr. restaurant near Fresno City College destroyed in fire
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Firefighters declared a working fire at former Carl’s Jr. after heavy smoke reports.
- Crews evacuated the building, shifted to defensive operations, and closed nearby streets.
- Fire under investigation amid city eminent‑domain plans for a grade‑separation project.
The abandoned Carl’s Jr. restaurant near the Fresno City College campus was destroyed in a fire Wednesday evening.
Firefighters responded to reports of smoke coming from the former restaurant at the northwest corner of Blackston and McKinley avenues at 6:09 p.m. and the incident escalating to a working fire shortly after crews arrived.
About 13 minutes into the incident, firefighters evacuated all personnel from the building and transitioned to defensive positions.
Parts of Blackstone and McKinley were closed as crews worked to contain the fire.
No injuries were reported, and the fire is under investigation.
Why Carl’s Jr. closed
In 2024, The Bee reported that the Fresno City Council adopted five resolutions officially declaring that particular pieces of land are needed for the $150 million project to rebuild the intersection of Blackstone and McKinley avenues at the BNSF Railway tracks.
One of those locations involved the Carl’s Jr, which closed towards the end of 2025 and is part of a City of Fresno eminent domain project designed to create a railroad grade separation, allowing traffic to pass below the tracks.
The streets are each to be lowered by as much as 25 feet to funnel traffic beneath the existing railroad tracks. The “resolutions of necessity” are the first step in the legal process of taking property through condemnation.
Other businesses affected by that are Taco Bell and Dutch Bros coffee in a shopping center on the northeast corner of the intersection; a ceramics business; an auto body shop; and an auto smog shop.
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 9:46 AM.
