5th Fire for Abandoned Building Is Its Last

Arson investigators are trying to determine why an abandoned building in Orange that had been the site of four previous fires in the last year was destroyed in a blaze Sunday afternoon.

Firefighters who were only a block away from the building in the 200 block of South Main Street responded to a call about 4:30 p.m., but the structure was engulfed by the time they arrived, said Doug Mochizuki, battalion chief for the Orange Fire Department.

The building was previously the showroom and parts department for a car dealership, Ford of Orange, which has since moved.

Fire officials estimated that the building and property were worth $500,000.

They were determining Sunday whether the building was scheduled for demolition and whether an office building was slated to go up on the site.

Mochizuki said there had been numerous fires because transient people lived or stayed in the building.

“We think there were transients living here, but we are not totally sure they were the ones responsible,” he said. “We’re 90% sure that this is probably what happened.”

However, because the fire spread so quickly, arson investigators will continue to review what happened, he added.