Tuesday marked Charleston's 41st fire in 2019. The city fire marshal said half of those have been in abandoned houses.
It's an ongoing issue, especially on the West Side, which was the scene of a Tuesday morning fire, burning three houses total on Red Oak Street.
"Not too long ago, right behind you, we had one on the upper side of the street there," Capt. Fred Dunbar said. "It's definitely something we deal with on a regular basis."
Firefighters said Tuesday's fire on Red Oak Street spread to two neighboring houses, threatening even more.
No one was injured, but fire marshal Corey Miller said it could have been a lot worse. Miller said sometimes a reason that houses are vacant is because there are structural concerns. It's an added challenge for crews at the scene, who often don't know the dangers until they are inside. In this case, the middle house began to collapse as the morning went on.