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A large fire broke out Wednesday morning in an industrial warehouse in Oakland that housed a painting company on property set to become an apartment complex near BART’s Coliseum Station.

The two-alarm blaze, which erupted at 6:31 a.m., shot flames high into the early-morning darkness and could be seen from the nearby BART tracks and Interstate 880.

The fire quickly caused the single-story structure to collapse, its corrugated-metal walls folding and twisting into piles of burning debris. As firefighters doused the smoldering ruins with water, Tracey Chin, an Oakland Fire Department battalion chief, said it was unclear whether the warehouse, which was being leased by George E. Masker Painting, had been filled with flammable paints and solvents that might have fueled the fire.

No one was injured, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Jerome Hathaway, an arson investigator, said it appeared the fire started near the corner of 72nd Avenue and Hawley, but it was unknown whether the first flames started inside or outside the warehouse.

Within several hours after it started, the blaze appeared to be mostly under control, and most engines and firefighters had been released from the scene.

Chin said firefighters were hoping to get the site’s owner, developer Resources for Community Development, to send heavy equipment to the scene to move the piles of sheet metal and roofing, so crews can extinguish the burning debris beneath. The company, which plans to build 59 units of affordable housing on the site, did not respond to requests for comment.

Alan Bjerke, owner of the painting business that leased the warehouse, arrived at the scene Wednesday morning to speak with fire officials. He said his company leased the building and had used it for several years but declined further comment.

Neighbors of the warehouse said they were frightened by the blaze, which caught their attention with two loud explosions.

Erika Lopez, 29, and her four housemates share a fence with the warehouse. She looked out the window before dawn Wednesday and called 911 after seeing tall flames and thick smoke.

“I was pretty worried,” Lopez said. “It looked really bad. As soon as the firefighters arrived, I told them it was coming through the backyard, so they took care of the house.”

Firefighters doused the side of her home nearest the warehouse with water.

Lopez and her roommates, one clutching her white dog, sat on the porch steps and watched the firefighters.

“It was fast action,” Lopez said. “I mean, it was pretty scary. I thought that the house was going to burn down, too.”

In the end, she said, the home suffered just a little water damage on the exterior.

Lopez said she’s lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and has never seen anyone at the warehouse. Two years ago, she said, she received a letter from the city informing them that the warehouse would be demolished and turned into apartments.

“But we never saw anything,” she said, adding that no construction ever started.

Firefighters said their efforts were complicated by multiple power lines down in the area, and they had to work with East Bay Municipal Utility District officials to boost water pressure near the scene of the fire.

“It was a big warehouse that took up the whole block,” said Myra Fernandez, office supervisor for Ehret Co. Plumbing and Heating, which sits across 71st Avenue from the burning warehouse. “I never really saw any activity there.”

An occasional truck made deliveries or pickups, Fernandez said, but she didn’t know if anyone worked or lived inside the warehouse. She said the doors were always closed, and it was tough to see inside the building.

Despite its proximity to BART, which passes about two blocks away, the fire did not affect the Wednesday morning commute, transit officials said.

Sarah Ravani and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com, mcabantuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani @ctuan