A vacant house in East Hollywood caught fire again early Friday morning, marking at least the third time this has happened, raising concerns among city leaders and local residents.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the fire was reported just after 1:30 a.m. at a craftsman-style home in the 4800 block of W. Melrose Avenue.
Crews arrived to find the house engulfed in flames, which took them nearly an hour to extinguish. Video footage from the scene shows large flames punching through the roof of the two-story home, with a large billowing cloud of black smoke above it.
While no injuries have been reported, fire officials tell KCAL News this is far from the first time the house has caught fire.
It has been such a nuisance in the recent past that the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety had already presented the property to their Board of Commissioners as a nuisance property and they wanted to talk to the owner about the issues they were facing with what they vagabonds and vandals.
They claim gang activity and other crimes are taking place on the property, which also has a detached garage, which needs to be secured due to constant trespassing by unauthorized people.
They will discuss the reduction at their next scheduled meeting.
KCAL News has not yet been able to contact the owner of the property, which operates as an LLC. However, the former owner of the house, which was formerly called the Melrose Inn, said she was forced to sell after experiencing a number of family problems.
Property records show it went through a foreclosure process before ending up with its current owner about a year ago.
