Firefighters search for possible victims inside a burning San Bernardino historic building

San Bernardino fire crews worked to put out flames at a 100-year-old abandoned building, known as the Harris Building, early Thursday morning.

Witnesses in the area say the unhoused live at the site, and that there were about five people inside when the fire broke out, just after midnight.

The Harris Building is across from San Bernardino City Hall, and it was once connected to the Carousel Mall, which closed in 2017.

Back in July, a fire broke out in the Harris Building on the fourth floor, where firefighters rescued unhoused victims who were in the building. City leaders believed that there were more than a dozen people sheltered inside at that time. The incident prompted city leaders and residents alike to call for revitalization. 

One man who said he is homeless and witnessed the early morning fire expressed his concern that things are getting worse for the unhoused in the area.

"I've been here 10 years and it's bad, and it's not going to get any better. It's going to get worse, and by them doing this trick here, it's going to get a lot worse for the homeless people out here. It's a shame," Billy Biecken said. 

Demolition of the Carousel Mall was completed in 2023 after it became a hot spot for crime including break-ins and fires.

The Harris building formally opened in 1927. According to the city of San Bernardino, It housed a basement, first floor, mezzanine level, second floor, third floor and roof garden. Inside there was a tea room, lunch counter, beauty parlor and barber shop, a sit-down soda fountain, candies, stationery, Sage's Market grocery store, and a restaurant called Café Madrid.

Mayor Helen Tran said in July that the city started the process of acquiring the building in hopes of revitalizing it, but that the end goal was still a long way off with an untold amount of repairs anticipated.