Vacant former Fresno City College center burns in southwest Fresno

Thick black smoke rose over southwest Fresno Saturday evening after fire broke out at the vacant former Fresno City College Career and Technology Center at 2930 E. Annadale Avenue, near Annadale and Angus avenues. Firefighters were called around 5:30 p.m. and moved quickly to contain the blaze before it could spread beyond the empty building.

No injuries were reported in the initial response, but the fire left extensive damage inside the former campus building. The cause had not been determined, and investigators were left to sort out whether the blaze started accidentally or under suspicious circumstances. The City of Fresno Fire Department is required to investigate every fire, and its Fire Investigations Unit can work with the Fresno Police Department, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, ATF and FBI when a case calls for it.

The Annadale site carried a long public history before it caught fire. Fresno City College said its Fire Academy and EMT program had been housed at the Career and Technology Center before moving to the new First Responders Campus, which opened with a ribbon cutting on Jan. 25, 2024. That new 40-acre campus consolidated police, fire and EMT training in one place. A local report also said the Annadale building was going to be sold, adding another layer of uncertainty to what had already become a vacant property.

The blaze also put a familiar southwest Fresno problem back in view: what happens when large public-facing buildings sit empty in a part of the city already defined by a mix of residential, industrial, commercial and vacant land uses. Fresno’s fire code treats some fire-damaged buildings that are not safe and legal to occupy as blighted vacant structures that may need to be repaired or demolished, and some must be fully repaired or torn down within 90 days. Fresno has dealt with other high-profile vacant-building fires, including the old Fresno County morgue site near Nielson and Fruit in September 2024. Saturday’s fire was another reminder that an empty building can remain a neighborhood hazard long after its original purpose has ended.