Early morning fire guts interior of Modesto’s American Legion Memorial Hall
An early Thursday morning fire gutted the interior of the city’s American Legion Memorial Hall along the Tuolumne River in Modesto’s airport neighborhood.
About a half dozen fire engines responded to the fire at 1021 S. Santa Cruz Ave. The fire was reported at 3:55 a.m., according to a Fire Department incident summary.
“First arriving units found heavy fire on the side and front of the building and extending into the interior,” according to the summary. “Crews fought the fire aggressively and limited the interior damage as much as possible. MPD and Parks Department were contacted due to damage to a city building.
“Crews remained on scene for several hours to extinguish hot spots. (The Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit) was on scene conducting an origin and cause investigation.”
The building’s exterior walls are made of cinder blocks.
More information about the fire was not immediately available.
The American Legion Memorial Hall is next to Legion Park and is in the Tuolumne River Regional Park. The regional park is more than 500 acres and runs for seven miles along the river, from Mitchell Road to Carpenter Road.
The city rents out the hall several times a month for a variety of events, from weddings and quinceañeras to business meetings. The hall has a wooden deck overlooking the Tuolumne River. The fire destroyed the deck.
City workers were at the building Thursday morning to secure it.
Modesto spokeswoman Diana Ruiz-Del Re said the city will determine its next steps after assessing the damage to the building.
A neighbor said someone set the garbage bin in the hall’s parking lot on fire the day before this fire. She said this was the first time the bin had been set on fire in about six months. She said it was set on fire about twice a month last summer and firefighters responded to the most recent fire.
