On Monday morning, one of Spokane’s several hundred zombie properties caught fire.
The one-story home on West Cleveland Avenue should have been empty. It was in foreclosure for nearly two years after the mortgage-holder died, and a court ordered its sale last October to pay its creditor.
But that didn’t keep the squatters out, and when those occupants tried to refill a kerosene stove, a fire ignited. One person was burned so severely he was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, then flown to Harborview in Seattle.
Spokane has an estimated 500 abandoned homes in some stage of foreclosure, which city officials call zombie properties. The grass and shrubs in their lawns grow with the spring rains then die in the summer, creating fire hazards.