Massive fire burns vacant buildings in north Phoenix

3 vacant homes burned in north Phoenix fire

A massive fire broke out on May 27 near 25th Street and Greenway Road, burning three vacant buildings. FOX 10's Irene Snyder has the details.

PHOENIX - A massive fire tore its way through three homes in north Phoenix on Wednesday morning, with many nearby residents rushing outside eager to see what was happening.

What they're saying:

"I saw smoke and when I got up farther in my car I saw the flames," one witness said.

Kathy Hernandez was among the concerned neighbors who arrived at the scene as the fire spread.

"I saw the smoke and my daughter lives in this area and I just came to make sure it wasn't her apartment. I'm a very concerned neighbor and I wanted to see what's going on," Hernandez said. "I was very relieved it wasn't the apartments that my daughter lives in, cause I love my family so much."

The fire broke out shortly after 4 a.m. on May 27 at 25th Street and Greenway Road. According to the Phoenix Fire Department, the three homes affected were all vacant.

"When we arrived, we had three fully involved structures, one second story. Our crews quickly deployed hand lines to fight those. We realized the buildings were vacant, so we're gonna have no one displaced at this time," said DJ Lee, a captain with Phoenix Fire.

The second-alarm fire led to a massive response from local stations.

"We had about 90 firefighters on scene to fight this fire – shows how big this was, so was a very large fire and our guys did a good job," Lee said.

Crews spent hours battling the flames, which at one point included a giant plume of smoke and flames seen coming from the roof.

"The fire was very large, had three separate structures, multiple handlines, had our ladder trucks up with the aerial platforms and wanted to make sure we have enough people on scene for recycling getting the crews the rest they need," Lee said.

What's next:

Investigators will work to determine what caused the fire.

Map of where the fire happened: