Squatters may have perished in San Jose fire

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- San Jose firefighters are worried that people might have been inside a warehouse that was destroyed by fire on Terraine and Bassett streets around 3:30 a.m.Wednesday. The two-alarm fire tore through the abandoned warehouse near downtown. Flames could be seen shooting off the roof and engulfing the building.

Firefighters put up aerial ladders to battle the flames defensively from above.

"No one is going inside. It is unsafe. The whole roof has collapsed," said Captain Mike Van Elgort.

It took fire crews nearly three hours to completely put it out. The daylight shows the damage. It is gutted inside and windows are blown out.

The warehouse is frequented by squatters like Robin Anderson. He slept there for 9 months.

"You know to be honest I had a lot of memories in that spot. a lot of memories in that spot. You know it's winter. Gotta get warm somehow," said Anderson.

He says the group he was with got kicked out last week. He admits some of them would use lighters or other small devices to see in the dark.

"Like little torches, little glass torches so we could walk around to see. But other than that no," said Anderson.

The official cause is not known and it could take days for investigators to sift through the smoldering debris.

"It's our concern the fire started in the interior so potentially homeless or squatters could have been inside. And our other concern is we hope they got out, because on our arrival no one would have survived in there," said Van Elgort.

The building was scheduled to be demolished next week, but because of this new fire damage it will probably be knocked down in the next day or two.