Albuquerque – On Dec. 3, 2024, at approximately 1PM, Albuquerque Fire Rescue was dispatched to 5413 Kathryn Avenue for reports of a possible single-family dwelling fire. AFR Engine 11 arrived on scene and reported a working fire within the interior of a small structure. The Fire Station is luckily a block away from the location.
The fire was brought under control within 4 minutes of their arrival. Damage to the structure affected the entire structure of the interior and the building is no longer habitable per AFR. The property however was previously abandoned prior to this incident.
There were no injuries reported to any civilians or fire department personnel. The cause of the fire was determined to be an accidental ignition of a warming fire within the structure.
This winter there have been an uptick of homeless or unhoused people illegally taking over unoccupied houses and causing fires within trying to keep themselves warm. City of Albuquerque Code Enforcement was at the scene after the fire.
The abandoned house at the NW corner of Kathryn Ave and Ortiz had a large homeless encampment parked in front of the property about 2 weeks ago. The encampment included large piles of junk, trash, and shopping carts –perfect fire material. The encampment suddenly disappeared. I wonder if they just moved to the inside of the house.
I have an a homeless man living in an encampment in front of my apartments at this moment just a few blocks from this latest fire. Last week, he lit a fire when it got down to 26 degrees early one morning. By the time I went to visit my apartments later that morning, I saw smoke coming from his encampment a block away. He had just put out the fire, so there was still some smoke and burning embers. I called AFR. They never came to make sure the fire was completely out. Can you believe it?
I called APD to get this guy to move. One of my tenants had yelled at him to move for lighting a fire about 30 feet from the apartment complex. APD came about 5 hours later and got him to move. He was gone for 3 days, but he’s back in front of the apartments. I called APD again to get him to move, but they never came. Two more of my tenants have yelled at him to move. They fear he will catch the complex on fire. There are bushes, dried leaves, and gas meters in the front yard of the complex. He is going to light a fire again if it gets too cold. The city has abandoned us from this human fire hazard.
My property insurance for my apartments went up 45% in 2023 because the homeless are lighting fires in or near buildings all over the International Drugs district (IDD). In the past 5 months, someone lit 2 dumpsters at 2 different apartment complexes on fire near my apartments. The landlord next to me cut down all the shrubs and trees in front of his complex to for fire prevention. My dentist, who has his practice in the IDD, had all his bushes cut down after the homeless caught some of them on fire.
In the IDD, we can’t have supermarkets, drugstores (except pot stores) and many other normal things you find in neighborhoods because of the crime which appeared just about the same time the homeless appeared. We can’t even have some shrubbery in front of our properties because some homeless person might set them on fire. All this crime adds to the cost of maintaining a property. The increase in arson, vandalism. and other crime is one reason rent is going up. The woke liberals in this town want to blame the rise in rent to greedy landlords, but it is getting more and more expensive to maintain a property because of all the criminal destruction.
I will have to hire someone to cut down my trees and shrubs. I am going to buy more security cameras and hire someone to put more fencing around my apartments. I need to put in more security lighting. The IDD is ground zero for the zombie apocalypse. APD and AFR are overwhelmed. The zombies are winning, and woke politicians are enabling them.
Oh one more thing, there is this woke liberal outrage that low income neighborhoods are heat islands because of racist landlords and other power elite not putting in enough trees, shrubs, and parks. Well, if homeless people are going to burn down the neighborhood greenery, I guess the racist landlords need to chop down more trees and shrubs. I know I am.
I remember when Albuquerque’s homeless population was primarily disabled veterans or mentally challenged individuals that were relatively harmless. You didn’t mind helping them out because they were grateful. This new generation of homeless are different, the fentanyl and meth have destroyed their lives. They live for the moment with no regard for the consequences. Sad all the way around, everyone suffers.