West Hollywood neighbors concerned about fires in abandoned home

After another vacant house went up in flames, West Hollywood neighbors Tuesday called for city officials to better manage abandoned properties. 

The latest incident happened Friday night on North Fairfax Avenue near Fountain Avenue at a property, which neighbors said had been subject to a host of trespasser and illegal tenant problems over the years.

“The smoke and the smell was so horrible that I could feel it the next day in my lungs,” Christine Fass, a West Hollywood resident, said.

Some blamed the fire on the property’s alleged illegal tenant problem.

“I wish I could say I was surprised, but this was the third fire in the two years that I have lived here,” Spencer Morgan, another neighbor, said.

The abandoned property has been on the city’s radar for some time, according to West Hollywood Mayor John Erickson, as the City Council initially approved a redevelopment project that would have built 80 units and affordable housing on the lot two years ago. 

But the project has been put on hold due to a lawsuit from two neighbors.

“As a result of litigation, we’ve been sitting here with this property and having to deal with increased public safety demands that have been placed on it,” Erickson said, adding city officials have been hearing from concerned neighbors. 

Arson investigators from the LA County Sheriff’s Department were tasked to investigate the cause of the fire.

No injuries from the fire were reported.