NORFOLK -- Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of a fire in Norfolk Sunday night.
Dispatchers received a call about the fire at West 27th Street and Newport Avenue just before 10 p.m. They arrived to find fire and smoke coming from the roof of a two-story apartment building.
A search of the apartment found no one was inside.
A firefighter was taken to the hospital after he collapsed at the scene. He was later released from the hospital.
Neighbors stood and watched the fire rip through the vacant apartment building. One woman who lives next door says it could have been much worse.
"I came outside and the fire was in the back of my house. The firefighter said if it had been worse, it could have hit the trees and hit my back door," the neighbor said.
According to another neighbor, Veronica Smith, the lower level of the building used to be a convenience store, and there were plans to do something with it soon.
"The owner said he was gonna fix it up, remodel it, get it back like it was, but now it's all burned up. It has to get torn down," said Smith.
Investigators tell 13News Now they hope to release the cause of the fire later this week.
