A Darwin Avenue family was burned out of their home on Saturday in what was a very busy Fourth of July weekend of fires and police enforcement.
At 1:27 p.m. Modesto Fire Department was called to a working residential fire in the 1700 block of Darwin Avenue in Ceres with smoke pouring from the structure as the Quint ladder truck arrived. Firefighters began working in an offensive mode on what was an attic fire and soon found themselves in a partial roof collapse. The fire rapidly accelerated and the crews were forced to withdraw. As the last crew member exited the building, a full roof collapse over the living area occurred.
Firefighters then began dousing the roof fire from an aerial fire engine ladder to bring the fire under control.
No firefighters or residents were injured. The Stanislaus County Fire Unit investigators are looking into the cause of the fire.
Throughout Saturday night firefighters were active responding to multiple calls to put out fires. One of them was a fire on the roof at an apartment complex reported at 9:39 p.m. Crews found large trees on fire next to the apartment with ember cast onto the roof. Crews quickly extinguished the fire and stopped it from spreading to the structure.
Early on Sunday morning six Modesto Fire engines responded to a report of a working commercial structure fire in the 900 block of South Ninth Street in south Modesto. When the first engine arrived at 1:51 a.m. a large storage building was on fire which threatened an adjacent building. Crews operated in a defensive mode and a second alarm was called to bring in two more fire engines and the Quint ladder truck. Firefighting crews limited damage to the exposure building. The cause of that fire is also being investigated.
At 4:57 a.m. five fire engines were dispatched to a residential structure fire in the 400 block of Olivero Road in south Modesto. Crews operated in the offensive mode and quickly contained the fire. Four residents were displaced by the fire. The fire is under investigation.
It’s possible that some of the structure fires were the result of illegal fireworks.
Ceres Police Trenton Johnson said his department is still assembling the statistics regarding the number of citations given for illegal fireworks.
“On the Fourth of July we were very busy,” said Chief Johnson. “We had 12 uniformed officers working the Fourth of July and I think last year I think we had six.”
From what he observed Ceres experienced “probably the same as last year” in terms of illegal aerial fireworks. He said the department took 24 reports of illegal fireworks on Saturday evening.
In several instances he said the officer dedicated to catching violators would show up at a reported address and wait around the corner for residents to launch again and issue a citation.
Community Service Officer Dave McCann was on a call for illegal fireworks and was writing up a citation when he saw nearby neighbors light up some in front of him and wrote them a citation, the chief said.
Also tying up police resources were the 16 individuals who were arrested for drunken driving in the past four-day period from Thursday through Sunday. An officer’s time is often occupied with making the arrest, obtaining a search warrant for a blood draw at a hospital and then booking in the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center.
In Hughson, a child sustained burns with a legal safe and sane firework Saturday evening which prompted Medi-flight to pick him up and whisk him away to a hospital for treatment of burns.
On Thursday deputies with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department descended on an Empire residence and seized 1,800 pounds of illegal fireworks and five “assault-style” firearms. One individual was arrested.
