Houston Fire Department investigates second house fire at abandoned property in historic Freedmen’s Town

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — ABC13 is learning more about a home that caught fire in the Fourth Ward’s historic Freedmen’s Town neighborhood on Saturday.

Items of clothing lie among the ashes, but according to the Houston Fire Department, the house on Victor Street is actually vacant.

“There’s no meters. There’s no gas service in them. People are squatting in them,” HFD District Chief Darrin Nielsen said.

Back in 2019, the row of homes was bought by a property owner, who told ABC13 he planned to restore and rent them as single-family homes.

Six years later, and they still sit empty.

“Every time you look around, someone is in those abandoned houses sleeping in them,” neighbor Felicia Wills said.

Wills lives across the street from the homes and said she saw when the house fire started on Saturday.

“I was walking down my sidewalk, coming home to where I’m at right now,” Wills said. “All I see was the fire going boom.”

HFD said the fire started outside and then spread to the house. There is no word on what caused it yet, but the department said arson is still investigating, and nobody was injured.

However, this is not the first time the house has caught fire.

“This is about the second time that this has happened over here at the same spot,” Wills said.

HFD said in August 2023, there was a fire contained to the back porch area that was ruled accidental.

Wills ultimately said she wants the property to get the attention it needs.

“They are not doing anything to the houses,” Wills said.

The property owner told ABC13 there are plans to sell to a buyer who wants to preserve the homes.

He couldn’t comment on who the buyer was or their specific plans.