Seattle firefighters extinguished a fire Monday at a vacant home on 15th Avenue near 65th Street, across from Roosevelt High School. The home is owned by notorious landlord Hugh Sisley.
Sisley has owned dozens of properties in Seattle, some of them vacant, eyesores. Neighbors tell KIRO 7 squatters have been spotted inside the vacant home that caught fire Monday.
>>RELATED: KIRO 7's coverage on Hugh Sisley
“The man next door here, he kind of watches these houses, and he said he chased some people out of there last night,” said neighbor Daniel Keller. “For him to have that many [properties], and to leave them the way they were, I think it was definitely irresponsible.”
PHOTOS: Crews respond to house fire in Seattle's Roosevelt neighborhood
In 2007, KIRO 7 reported on a string of fires over several months at Seattle properties owned by Sisley.
Years later, in 2015, another one of his properties in the Ravenna neighborhood went up in flames. By then, the city had outlined a plan to take over a plot of Sisley’s properties to create a park near Roosevelt High School.
At the time, the city of Seattle said then that Sisley owed more than $3 million in fines for code violations on various properties that neighbors said were eyesores.
KIRO 7 spoke with Sisley by phone Monday, but he did not want to comment on the house fire. He did say the city of Seattle is taking away his properties, presumably referring to the land for a park the city has sought to create. He wouldn’t clarify.
The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association said the row of vacant homes across from the high school, that includes the house that caught fire Monday, sits on land now leased to a development group, that took care of Sisley’s previous code violation penalties.
Records show a demolition permit was reviewed in 2017 for the house that caught fire Monday. Neighbors are worried there will be more fires.
“Starting to look like parts of Detroit,” said a neighbor, who stopped by as firefighters were at the scene.
Firefighters have not yet said how Monday’s fire started.
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