A fire in an east Bakersfield industrial district forced a two-hour closure of Washington Street.

Sean Fraley with the Kern County Fire Department says county and city firefighters were called north of East California Avenue near Cotton Way at around 1 p.m. Wednesday.

“It was a fully-involved outbuilding with flame impingement on a large shed,” he said.

Fraley says the shed was vacant at the time and may have been occupied by homeless people. It’s not known what started the fire.

Investigators haven’t calculated a damage estimate yet.

– Anthony Pollreisz