Smoke and flames billowed from an abandoned historic San Jose church Tuesday morning, sending a cloud over downtown in the pre-dawn hours.
Fire officials are investigating a two-alarm fire that damaged a vacant Victorian church at 217 Delmas Ave. at around 3:40 a.m., San Jose fire Capt. Skip Bloom said.
When crews got to the scene, they found the single-story structure completely in flames. There were also power lines dangling above the burning building. The fire was controlled atabout 4:35 a.m.
The church was known to sometimes be inhabited by homeless people, Bloom said, and fire investigators were going into the church to determine if anyone was inside when it started to burn.
Homeless man Hideki Hirakawa was found murdered inside the building in February.
The cause of the fire is being investigated
Bay City News contributed to this report.
