By Meghan Hoyer
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — By the time firefighters arrived at the corner of Middle and Lindenwood avenues, it was too late.
The Nov. 17 blaze likely was set by vagrants who broke into the vacant house there and tried to warm themselves, investigators said. The fire did so much damage the city had to demolish the house later in the day.
"We're not out there ordering every building torn down just because no one lives in it," said Jack Goldhorn, Norfolk Fire-Rescue spokesman. "It comes down to the safety of the people in the neighborhood and us."
Each year, his department handles roughly 18 to 20 fires in vacant buildings, he said.
With rising foreclosures leading to more empty homes across Norfolk, city leaders fear that number could increase. Norfolk officials have begun boarding up vacant and unsecured buildings by emergency order, bypassing the usual weeklong notice it gives owners to take care of problems on their properties.
"The urgency at this time of year is that we have people seeking shelter," said Wayne Green, acting bureau manager for neighborhood revitalization. "They start fires, they're doing things, it really is a hazard."
Last week, crews boarded up 10 houses. A trailer on the edge of Fairmount Park that police found open to vagrants and used for drug activity was torn down after being deemed unsafe.
Norfolk usually handles about one board-up case a week, Green said.
An "unsecured" vacant buildings is any structure that can be easily entered through an unlocked door, broken window or open crawl space. Vacant buildings that are already boarded, or are locked, won't be affected by the city's new measure, Green said.
Typically, the city gives property owners seven days to take care of problems once city inspectors find them. Now, Green said, any open properties are being boarded up on the same day. Norfolk bills owners for board-ups afterward and, if bills go unpaid, places a lien on the property.
The neighborhoods involved in the new effort include Douglas Park, Brambleton, Central Brambleton, Olde Huntersville, Lamberts Point, Lindenwood, Park Place, Villa Heights, Campostella, Campostella Heights, Berkley and Fairmount Park.
Green said the program would prevent fatalities. In 2004, two homeless people died in a fire in a vacant house in Olde Huntersville. In 1998, a squatter who had broken into a Park Place house died after accidentally starting a fire. "This is about safety," Green said. "If we have situations where properties are open, we need to get them boarded up. We don't want anyone to get injured or have any loss of life."
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