Fresno Man Arrested on Felony Arson Charges in East Ashlan Strip Mall Fire

Kaliff Alabanzahall, 43, was booked into Fresno County Jail on Tuesday on two counts of felony arson, five days after a third-alarm blaze tore through a strip mall on the 1600 block of East Ashlan Avenue near Blackstone and left three businesses damaged.

The fire broke out April 2, pulling 65 Fresno Fire Department firefighters to the scene to battle hotspots and keep the flames from jumping to neighboring properties. The strip mall houses a burger restaurant, a taqueria, a 7-Eleven, a clothing store and a vacant barbershop unit. No injuries were reported despite the scale of the response.

What converted a major fire call into a criminal case was what investigators found in the surveillance footage. Cameras captured a person deliberately setting multiple small fires at the structure in the moments before the building ignited. That footage became the foundation of the investigation, allowing Fresno Fire Department arson investigators and Fresno Police Department officers to identify Alabanzahall and locate him in the area surrounding the scene.

The Fresno County District Attorney's Office will now receive that surveillance evidence along with other investigative materials to support the two felony arson counts at the charging stage. A conviction carries the potential for significant criminal penalties and court-ordered restitution tied directly to the property damage sustained by the affected businesses.

The financial toll on those businesses extends well beyond physical repairs. Lost revenue during closures, insurance claims, and the risk of permanent customer attrition during a prolonged shutdown represent the economic damage commercial arson inflicts on small operators and their workers in corridors like East Ashlan.

Investigators are asking anyone who witnessed activity around the 1600 block of East Ashlan Avenue on the morning of April 2, or who has additional information about the fire, to contact the Fresno Fire Department arson unit or the Fresno Police Department tip line at (559) 621-7867.