Authorities are responding to a house fire on Haste Street in Berkeley, between Fulton Street and Shattuck Avenue.
The Berkeley Police Department has closed the road between Ellsworth Street and Shattuck and is asking people to avoid the area.
Scroll down for dramatic photos and video from the scene, and updates.
Berkeleyside began getting reports about the fire at 11:22 a.m. We have called the Fire Department and will update this post when additional information becomes available.
Update, 11:53 a.m. Interim Deputy Fire Chief Donna McCracken said the fire, in the 2100 block of Haste, is still in progress and has been upgraded to a second-alarm assignment.
No one was reported to be in the building, a single-family home, when the fire broke out, she said. Firefighters were dispatched at 11:15 a.m.
McCracken noted that there is a veterinary hospital next door: “We’re working with them to make sure conditions in their building stay safe.”
Haste is closed between Fulton and Shattuck, and Fulton is closed up to Channing Way.
Update, 4:30 p.m. McCracken said the home appeared to be unoccupied at the time of the fire, which was declared under control at 12:20 p.m. No injuries to firefighters or civilians were reported.
A financial estimate about the damage caused by the fire was not immediately available pending the ongoing investigation.
McCracken did confirm that there was also a fire at the home July 5, as reported by the Daily Californian, but said she could not verify any of the details from that report.
Update, 4:50 p.m. McCracken said the fire may have caused about $100,000 in damage, according to very preliminary estimates.
The fire in July, she said, damaged all three levels of the outside of the house’s rear wall: “No one was home at the time. The fire was determined to have started under the rear deck and was deemed accidental – possibly from cigarette butts.”
House fire in Berkeley, started around 11:15a. BFD on scene within 5 mins. Fire extinguished at 12:15p #berkeleyfire pic.twitter.com/HLeTwhyN9x
— Ryan M. Martin (@espeeboy) February 9, 2016
@berkeleyside pic.twitter.com/3awUOCoT46
— Corn Doll (@CornDoll1) February 9, 2016
Additional photographs and information were added to this story due after publication to the developing nature of events.
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