Firefighters investigate scene of downtown Merced house fire

The cause of the Saturday night fire that engulfed a two-story house with flames is still under investigation and officials are working to make sure nobody was inside the home during the fire, Merced Fire officials reported.

On Sunday, fire officials weren’t able to rule out if the cause of the fire on K and 19th Street was accidental or intentional, said Battalion Chief Cory Haas. The house was vacant, secured by a fence and all utilities were shut off, he said.

“We don’t believe the cause was electrical in nature,” Hass said, or caused by a gas leak.

In the past, Haas said, the house at 344 W. 19th St. was frequented by homeless people, and on Sunday, officials were aided by a search dog to make sure nobody was inside during the fire.

No injuries were reported.

“We don’t believe there were any victims inside the fire,” Haas said. “However, we wanted to be doubly assured.”

One of the reasons why the house is vacant is because of multiple other house fires in the past couple years, Haas said.

Fire officials reported that some of the past fires involved squatters. Neighbors have also said homeless people frequented the property.

Firefighters were called to the burning house at about 11 p.m. on Saturday, and by 1:30 a.m., firefighters were still working to put out hot spots.

“The place was well involved (with flames) when first units arrived,” Hass said, but he couldn’t say whether it was unusual that the fire was reported after the house was immersed in flames, because there’s “a lot of circumstances that play into that.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Firefighters investigate scene of downtown Merced house fire."