The fire department says a blaze in central Bakersfield that caused $100,000 in damage was started by accident.

It began in the kitchen of a fourplex on Dunsmuir Road, behind the Four Points Sheraton Hotel. No one was inside the residence at the time of the fire at 10am Sunday, but firefighters found 12 dead cats when they cleared the building.

SuzG and Kelli Forsch