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Businesses point finger at homeless as Stockton warehouse fire investigation launches

3 warehouses were destroyed in last night's four-alarm fire at N. Aurora and Lindsay Streets

STOCKTON, Calif. — Stockton fire investigators are trying to find answers after a major, four-alarm fire near Downtown Stockton on Thursday.

In the fire's path at Lindsey and Aurora Streets was a total of four warehouses.

Three of them were destroyed, including one that custom manufactured heavy duty tarps. The call came around 7 p.m. as a trash fire next to a building.

"Homeless camp, encampment scenario where you've got mattresses - can't for sure tell you somebody was sleeping there or hanging out, said Stockton Fire Battalion Chief Brandon Doolan. "[It's] just the typical trash you see along the tracks or in other parts of town."

At the 209 Express Auto Body shop right behind where the fire started, Donald Daley, a worker at the body shop, witnessed the inferno.

RELATED: Hot spots continue to pop up after firefighters extinguish multiple fires at Stockton warehouses | UPDATE

"It was pretty bad. I thought this place had got it attached too, but apparently not... that's a good thing, but I feel sorry for everybody else," said Daley.

Other people came to check on cars they had stored in one of the warehouses.

A 1969 Chevy Nova, along with four other cars survived, narrowly missing the flames.

A woman named Marissa, who declined to give her last name, said her father owns the Nova.

"I'm so happy. I mean, when I got the phone call last night, I was in tears," said Marissa, whose family called AAA to have their cars towed to their home.

Businesses impacted by the fire say the homeless have hung around by the railroad tracks behind the warehouses for several years. 

They say cooking or warming fires are not uncommon.

Joe Clegg manages Western Alinement Services, which sits just yards way from where the fire started, but was ultimately spared any major damage.

"I've had problems with them sleeping on the property, getting here in the morning and [having] to get them moved before I have to get customers in. That's a concern," said Clegg.

45 firefighters, including help from Lathrop Fire, took 80 minutes to finally contain the four-alarm fire.

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"As a fire department, we don't have the legal authority to come in and take a homeless person and kick them away from a building and put them to where we think is the proper spot," said Doolan. "It's a symptom of a bigger problem, not just in the city, but in the state. We're not going to solve that as a fire department here."

The dollar amount is still unknown, but it is expected to be significant.

Now, it is up to investigators to figure out the exact cause and origin of the destructive fire.

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WATCH ALSO: Stockton Fire Department heading toward busiest year on record




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