AUSTIN, Texas — Investigators are still trying to figure out what sparked the massive fire at an abandoned building just off I-35 near the University of Texas-Austin campus on Sunday evening.

The Austin Fire Department (AFD) responded to the fire that started at an abandoned Rodeway Inn Motel in the 2900 block of North Interstate 35 frontage road across from St. David's Medical Center just after 6 p.m. The fire also spread to the Ethiopian restaurant next door.

"We heard a boom," said Mattie McKinley, who saw the fire while she was visiting her mother at St. David's. "We watched the whole building from the beginning of the fire, just started collapsing, within 45 minutes, the whole thing was down."

Crews had to turn off electricity in the area to deal with the flames, but Austin Ener

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