UPDATE: A home just off Boulder Highway goes up in flames, and fire crews say they've responded to that same house several times. Neighbors are blaming squatters.
"We've seen them for months," says one neighbor, Lynn Boerdam. "Police will chase them out, they'll board it up, and the next day they're back tearing open the back and going inside."
The woman living next door to the home that burned says she knows why the suspected squatters may not be able to just leave the home alone.
"The former owner is the one staying there," says Elena Andia.
According to the county website, the county now owns the home, possibly because the owner couldn't keep up with the property tax. However, the next door neighbor says the former homeowner never really left.
13 Action News captured video of a car still in the garage.
Other neighbors say they don't care who is living inside, they just want something done before another home goes up in flames.
"I wish somebody could bring them to a shelter or something, but instead all this damage happens to all these homes that are empty," says Boerdam.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- Around 3:17 a.m. Tuesday, firefighters responded to a report of a fire at 4350 Crater Street, near Harmon Avenue and Boulder Highway.
Crews at the scene reported a large volume of smoke and flames coming from a single-story house. They were able to put out the fire by 3:42 a.m.
Though the house appeared to be vacant, neighbors think the house was used for storage by the owner since there were cars in the garage.
No injuries were reported and damage has not been estimated. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
