A “highly suspicious” fire destroyed a vacant building on Blackstone, near McKinley in Fresno on Sunday.
The blaze started just after 6:30 p.m., when crews met heavy fire showing from two abandoned buildings, according to Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Kirk Wanless.
Crews applied water to the structure to prevent it from catching the surrounding buildings.
Even the train tracks were temporarily shut down because of the fire, but they have since reopened, Wanless said.
It was the second vacant building to catch fire. On Jan. 28, the former Carl’s Jr. burned down.
“It is our strong belief that the city has taken ownership of these buildings,” Wanless said. “Highly suspicious, given that we have previous activity in another building across the way, also an abandoned city-owned building.
“Demolition of this building will have to happen because it’s unsafe now.”
No injuries were reported.
The areas at McKinley and Blackstone are expected to go through a rebuild, to create a railroad grade separation, allowing traffic to pass below the tracks.
This story was originally published February 8, 2026 at 9:14 PM.
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Anthony Galaviz writes about sports for The Fresno Bee. He covers the Las Vegas Raiders, high schools, boxing, MMA and junior colleges. He’s been with The Bee since 1997 and attended Fresno City College before graduating from Fresno State with a major in journalism and a minor in criminology.
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