A fire erupted this morning at 8:24 a.m. in a residential building on a large abandoned property at the intersection of Euclid Ave and Imperial Ave. The property, which has been vacant for years, contains several commercial and residential structures, many of which have fallen victim to fires over time.
When San Diego firefighters arrived at the scene, they discovered multiple homeless individuals inside the building. The firefighters promptly evacuated them and swiftly extinguished the fire within 10 minutes. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
This is the second fire on the property in recent weeks. On September 28, 2024, another fire broke out in one of the buildings. At the time, a woman living on the property claimed that a cooking fire had gotten out of control, causing the blaze. She had been residing in various structures on the property for over two years. In today’s incident, the same woman was present and was arrested after officials determined that today’s fire, like the previous one, was caused by another cooking mishap.
Following the September 28th fire, the City of San Diego “red-tagged” all the buildings on the property, legally prohibiting entry. However, people have continued to occupy these abandoned structures.
MAST Investigators are currently at the scene to assess the situation. Imperial Ave was closed for over an hour between Euclid Ave and S. Willie James Jones Ave as authorities responded to the incident.