Two firefighters were sent to the hospital with minor injuries after being hurt Sunday morning at a house fire in Indio, California.
Transients had been taking up residence sporadically in the abandoned home, but there was no one inside the structure at the time of the fire, according to a report fromThe Desert Sun(http://mydesert.co/13UlYTG).
One firefighter suffered a knee injury and the second may have suffered a heat-related illness.
The approximately 1,000-square-foot single-family home had a subflooring that made it dangerous for the 24 firefighters to go inside, so they limited operations to the exterior, using a ladder truck to hit the flames from overhead. The older home was also constructed in such a way that if the roof collapsed, there would be nothing left to keep the walls from coming down.
The city of Indio is located in Riverside County in Southern California.
Read additional details about the fire athttp://mydesert.co/13UlYTG.
For more on firefighting in supposedly vacant structures, considerNational Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System: Vacant Structures,FIGHTING FIRES IN VACANT OCCUPANCIES, andDeveloping Response Guidelines for Fires in Vacant Buildings.
