(FOX40.COM) — The California Shellfish Company warehouse near downtown Sacramento has been knocked down after an overnight fire tore through the structure. 

Kade Riley said that he lives near the building that caught fire. 

“In the middle of the night, some crackhead lady comes running down the street talking about the building’s gonna blow. We’re watching the movie. And we come outside because we hear it.” 

He said he spent the night keeping the drains on First Avenue unclogged so the water from the fire engines didn’t flood the tents in the area. 

“I’m stressed out. I had to move TVs and stuff. Everything’s on the floor, so I had to move it real fast because the water came up. Water came all the way up through the door,” Riley said. 

Fire crews arrived around 12:45 on Thursday morning to start putting the warehouse fire out. But officials said it’s taken long to extinguish the blaze because of the building’s condition.

According to officials, the warehouse was falling apart and deemed not safe for firefighters to enter, so they attempted to douse the flames with water from the outside of the building. 

Sacramento City Fire Public Information Officer Justin Sylvia said, “The heavy water flowing behind me is because we don’t want to put our members inside due to the danger that it can impose on them.” 

He continued, “It’s taking so long to extinguish this fire [because] there are certain areas in this building that we just cannot get to unless it’s torn apart. Then we can start flowing water and cooling down those hotspots.” 

Sylvia said the cause of the fire is under investigation. But Riley thinks the history of fires at this building is enough justification to demolish it. 

“I mean, it’s abandoned. So you might as well I mean, that or there’s just gonna keep getting crackheads up in there burning it down again and again or again.” 

No injuries were reported in the fire.