Former Fiesta restaurant destroyed in suspicious fire

Calexico Fire Department stations 1 and 2 engaged in a vacant building fire Thursday morning on the corner of Third Street and Rockwood Avenue.

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Fiesta, now a vacant building and what seems to be a popular hangout for the homeless according to the Calexico Fire Department, burst into flames and was completely destroyed Thursday morning.

Calexico firefighter and EMT Edgar Morales who was driving into his shift Thursday morning saw the smoke and called dispatch.

"I noticed heavy black smoke coming from a distance. I made contact with our dispatch and they confirmed a fully engulfed structure on Third Street and Rockwood Avenue," said Morales. "I made my way to the station to pick up my gear and come down, made contact with the captain in demand. I assisted with pulling some supply line and connected to a hydrant and assisted on attacking the fire from a distance from a 2 1/2 inch hose."

Fire Captain Lalo Rivera says the call came in around 6:50 am and took about two and a half hours to put out.

Rivera said when they arrived on scene there was heavy smoke and fire escaping off the roof and had already breached the roof.

He says there were no occupants, nobody leaving the scene and no witnesses.

"We immediately started with a defensive operation. We did not go interior," explains Rivera. "It's just an unsafe building and we didn't want to put firefighters in a position where they would actually possibly get hurt and then we could actively engage the fire from the outside."

Rivera says luckily it was around shift change, so they had started the attack with a nine man crew and then had five additional firefighters come in for their shift and assist with fighting the fire.

Calexico Public Works came in and helped demolished some of the building walls.

Rivera says there have been fires in this establishment before, the latest one being July 6th.

According to Captain Rivera, the building has no utilities and known for housing the homeless.

"So there is a lot of history with this as far as squatting, transient living but as of right now we do say it would be suspicious of nature," says Rivera. "Maybe leaning towards obviously intentional but right now we don't have an exact cause."

As of right now, the cause of the fire is still under investigation and if you have any information, you're asked to contact the Calexico Fire Department at (760) 768-2150.