LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- It's the second abandoned home to go up in flames in Louisville this week and neighbors are placing the blame on squatters and drug users. Friday morning, a vacant home was destroyed by fire near 21st and Bank Street, in the Portland neighborhood, a day after a vacant home was damaged by fire in the Park Hill neighborhood.
Phone video captured the moment Bobbie Kelley walked out her front door to work. Flames engulfed a home on Bank Street feet from where she stood.
"It was so bright. I ran back in and told my husband, 'the house is on fire next door.' Ran upstairs, got all the kids. I said, 'come on, we gotta go,'" Kelley said.
More than 30 firefighters responded.
"The building was so heavily damaged by fire, the rear end was collapsing. So, to protect the firefighters, we did not allow them in," Lt. Col. Jeff Botner said.
Botner had heard squatters were inside earlier in the day. He says it's a familiar location for drug activity. Just last week, someone died from an overdose inside this home.
"It is a big problem for the fire dept. We deal with it every day. We make overdose and medical runs to these buildings. Firefighters have told me they've been to this building several times," Botner said.
It's an all too familar and frustrating scene for Kelley and her family.
"It's the same thing we just dealt with last year, in April," she said.
While you can't see it now, a house once stood between hers and the one damaged by Friday's fire. Just last year, she says a squatter set fire to it, causing so much damage, it was demolished. Her home was also damaged.
"We lost everything last year. Everything we owned, shoes clothes, everything in the house went straight to the dumpster," she said.
Kelley says the bigger issue here is the homeless and drug users, setting up camp in abandoned homes and says she's called the police and city multiple times.
"You get tired of calling. We stop calling and this is what happens, again."
The latest numbers from the city reveal more than 4,100 vacant properties are in Louisville, and several programs are in place to reduce those numbers, but it takes time and money. A little over 300 properties have been converted into 'productive use' since 1996.
There are 656 vacant structures (not including lots) just in Portland, according to Metro Codes and Regulations Vacant Property records. There are 56 vacant structures on Bank Street alone.
As for this home, it was demolished before the sun set Friday.
"This will be an emergency demo," Botner had said earlier in the day.
Kelley's family is thankful no one was seriously hurt. A firefighter was treated at the scene for minor injuries after he slipped and fell, while fighting the fire. No one was found inside the home.