A vacant house along Naden Avenue South in Kent that has caught fire four times in the last seven months will soon be demolished, according to a city leader.

“This case is extraordinary and due to the danger the property poses to nearby businesses and the potential for significant delay in a resolution, the city plans to take action to demolish the building soon and will take steps to recover the costs at a later date,” said Pat Fitzpatrick, city chief administrative officer, in a Sept. 5 email.

Puget Sound Fire firefighters extinguished the latest fire Aug. 29 at the home at 115 Naden Ave. S., just east of Highway 167 and south of West Meeker Street. The first fire was Feb. 2 followed by fires on June 16 and Aug. 12, according to Puget Sound Fire.

In each case, homeless people were expected to have caused the fires, according to Puget Sound Fire. No arrests have been made.

Fitzpatrick said city staff had been attempting to locate the owners of the property for some time with the purpose of forcing demolition.

“We recently learned that the property is owned by an individual whose spouse recently passed away,” Fitzpatrick said. “The surviving spouse was experiencing challenges and is living out of state, but we were able to make contact with her within the past couple of days.”

That owner left a voicemail Sept. 5 with the Kent Reporter upset with the most recent article that referred to the “abandoned” house, a term used by Puget Sound Fire.

The woman said she was ill and had to move out and that she still made payments on the house and paid property taxes. She said it wasn’t abandoned.

“I will be selling it,” she said. “The homeless moved in and burned it down.”

The woman said she had a buyer in March, but he decided not to purchase it after a fire at the house.

The woman and her husband bought the home in 1988 for $42,500, according to King County property records. The house was built in 1948 and has 860 square feet. The property was appraised earlier this year at $311,000, $144,000 for land and $167,000 for the house (prior to the fires), according to property records.

Fitzpatrick explained it can be difficult for a jurisdiction to take action against a property owner.

“Code enforcement in Washington is extremely complicated, and non-resident ownership or incapacitation of owners makes resolution extremely process laden and time and resource intensive,” Fitzpatrick said. “When an owner is present, we have options of civil enforcement actions, civil court actions and criminal charges, each of which can help motivate a reluctant owner to act.

“We tend to have good outcomes in these circumstances. However, when the owner is absent (for example the owner is recently deceased, incapacitated, or out of state), the process becomes complicated. We approach every situation differently based on the unique facts surrounding each property.”

Fitzpatrick said the Naden house turned out to be an unusual case, leading to the planned demolition.

“This is not something the city has the ability or resources to do in most cases, but due to multiple fires at this location, and the unique circumstance surrounding ownership of this property, it is the approach we are taking,” he said.