A fire that engulfed a University Enterprise Inc. building this morning is suspected to be caused by arson.

An alarm went out at 2:30 a.m. at the facility near Folsom Boulevard today. Firefighters had to cut through barbed wire to reach the fire which destroyed the building and affected several of the surrounding buildings.

“The whole property is secure,” said Sacramento Fire Department Captain Jim Doucette. He said the building has been vacant for five years with no power, which means there may have been suspicious activity.

“There is also a lot of signs of vandalism, people have been in there stealing wire. That is starting to be more common,” Doucette said.

However, he could not say the fire was connected to wire stealing.

Marti Gray, Executive Director of University Enterprises Inc. confirmed that there have been previous vandalism incidents.

“We have over the past couple of years had a few instances were people have cuts the wires and gone into the location. I don’t know the exact number.”

Gray said university police have repaired the fence in the past.

While the building has been vacant for five years, the enterprise has owned it for two and half to three years according to Gray.

The university facilities department is currently overlooking demolition specifics for the site.

“The original plans were to build faculty staff housing, with the housing market the way it is now that project has slowed down.”

The official name of the building is the California Youth Authority facility at 3001 Ramona Avenue. According to Doucette, the destroyed building was about the size of a large mobile home.

University Enterprises Inc. is a non-profit corporation at Sacramento State that creates and manages programs for the university. It also owns the Hornet Bookstore.

University police was not able to be reached for comment over the weekend.

The State Hornet will update as information is available.

Chloe Daley can be reached at [email protected]