In Boise, a two-alarm fire occurred at Fairview and 25th Street in a warehouse recently purchased by St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center. Although the fire was serious, no one was injured during the incident.

Contractors hired by St. Luke’s spotted transients attempting to enter the building Tuesday, the day before the fire occurred. It appeared that the transients were occupying the second floor, closest to Fairview Avenue, which is where it is believed that the fire started. Representing the owners’ interests, the contractors instructed the transients to vacate the property.

The contractors were preparing the building for demolition. Electricity to the building was turned off weeks ago. Electrical malfunction and lightning have been ruled out. It is suspected that the fire was human caused; however, it is not clear whether it was intentional or how the fire started. The official cause of the fire is currently “undetermined.”

This is one good illustration of what happens when you’ve got abandoned property. When buildings or homes are left abandoned, they are subject to transients and fire hazards. Boise has several areas with abandoned property. Although the fire officials did a bang-up job containing the fire and protecting citizens, you can’t discount that this kind of thing won’t occur again in other abandoned property, and that someone won’t get hurt.

What do you do about it? If it is in an area that is out of the view of the public eye, you shutter it up and secure it to ensure that no one can enter the building. Abandoned property also presents a danger to transients. I haven’t recently heard about any problems with transients in local Boise homes, but I could have missed that one.

Let us know here at Roost if you have heard of any such incidents. Of course, vandalism from transients can cost not only the owner of the property, but can also diminish home and property values in the immediate area.