(photo by Edwin Folven)

Firefighters extinguished a blaze on March 30 in a vacant building on Vermont Avenue and investigators are in the process of determining the cause. It was the second fire to erupt inside the building in three weeks.

The fire was reported shortly after 9:30 a.m. inside the former hotel at 317 N. Vermont Ave., just north of Beverly Boulevard. Firefighters contained the flames to one unit and an adjacent hallway. The fire was extinguished at 9:54 a.m. No occupants were found inside and no injuries were reported.

Although no cause has been determined, authorities are speculating the fires may have been caused by transients who entered despite doors being locked and windows being boarded up. A fire on March 11 damaged parts of the interior of the structure. The building previously housed a low-budget hotel and ground-floor retail businesses.