Late night fire engulfs empty Santa Rosa commercial building

SANTA ROSA -- An empty Santa Rosa commercial building, frequented by squatters, was engulfed by a massive fire Saturday night that could be seen from a mile away.

Santa Rosa fire officials said they began receiving numerous 911 calls reporting the blaze at 1235 Central Ave. at around 11:48 p.m. 

The first engine arrived in under four minutes and found an abandoned metal warehouse with a large amount of fire visible on the outside of the structure.

A call was quickly made for additional resources. In all, 5 engines, a 1 fire investigator and 22 firefighters responded to the scene.

Firefighters initially fought the fire with high flow hoses from the exterior, then once the fire was under control, they entered the warehouse to search for occupants and finish extinguishing any burning material.

The fire was brought under control in 45 minutes, but crews remained on scene for two hours to extinguish hot spots.

Fortunately, there were no people inside even though there was evidence that homeless individuals had been occupying the abandoned building.

Due to the extent of the damage, the specific cause of the fire was unable to be determined.