Blaze at Merced neighborhood park community center draws all the city’s firefighters
A fire damaged a community center at a neighborhood park in Merced, officials said.
At about 10 p.m., Monday, firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire at the community center at Stephen Leonard Park at 640 T St., according to Merced Fire Capt. Jim Evans.
Evans said firefighters arrived on scene to find fire coming from the structure and at one time, every fire apparatus in the city was committed to the blaze including five fire engines, one fire truck, two battalion chiefs and the fire chief. Additionally, two Merced County fire engines responded to the scene resulting in about 28 total fire personnel who responded to the fire.
Fire officials said the the building was empty and no injuries were reported.
“When we arrived on scene we did not see anyone inside,” Evans said.
According to Evans, the fire ignited somewhere in the roof of the structure and firefighters forced entry into the building.
“It was a hard fire to find, just how the buildup of the structure was,” Evans said.
It took firefighters about one hour to control the blaze and fire personnel were on scene for a total of about four hours. Evans said the the building sustained major damage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
