ABC-7 Listens: Concerns over burnt, vacant home

ashlie rodriguez. and i’m bob harp. concerns over a vacant home in socorro made it to our abc-7 newsroom. it’s located on the 10-thousand-300 block of valle fertil– a neighbor says it’s become an eyesore and a hazard after it first caught fire a year- and-a-half ago. so what being done to fix it? abc-7 reporter denise olivas went to city officials to get the answers.. … in this abc-7 listens: pkg: “it’s ugly, it’s ugly, it’s a torn up property, they’re not going to fix it unless they tear it down so i don’t know why they’re taking so long to bring it down” the summer months ar coming, our vents are open, a lot of that junk that dust in the air that it created is gonna be something that we breathe” yvette quintanilla and her family live behind this home. she’s says it’s a black eye on the neighborhood, and dangerous. socorro city manager adriana rodarte says tearing the foreclosed home is not that simple. “it’s private propert so we cant just go in there, since we’re a public entity into a private property, it takes a process” “i’m told the fence surrounding this house just went up about two weeks ago, and this notice of violation from the city of socorro hasn’t been there very long it’s dated february 29 of this year. our abc-7 archives show the home was empty and up for sale when it went up in flames in october of 2014, fire officials ruled it a total loss.” this is file video o crews putting out the flames back then investigators said witnesses reported seeing three kids running from the home after it went up in flames. we learned it caught fire again just last month. “it need to be demolished and it needs to be demolished now” rodarte say it’s been months of failed attempts to get in contact with the owner. a hearing is now set before the buildings and standards commission on april 5th at 6-30 inside council chambers. an inspector has determined the home must come down/ “we want to go in there and demolish it, we know it’s a safety hazard” “i t will get fixed unfortunately there is a process and i do understand their frustration” denise olivas, abc-7. if the property owner doesn’t show up to the hearing the city will be allowed to put a lein one the home and tear it down. abc-7 got a hold of another listed address for the owner, we stopped by but were told he did not live there.