OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Central Omaha neighborhood reporter Molly Hudson went to the Walnut Hill neighborhood Thursday, where a Victorian home near 41st and Izard, now just a shell of itself is raising concerns after two fires in the last six months.
- The house caught fire in December 2024 and again in March.
- The house is crumbling on the inside but still standing. The city told Molly it is making plans to get rid of it, but that could still be months away.
- They city plans to put the house on the next demolition list to be bid in July or August, then contractors coordinate the wreck permits with their schedules.
- The city doesn't have a specific date for demolition but is hopeful it would be by the end of the year.
WATCH MOLLY'S STORY HERE
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"It's not a bad neighborhood, this is such an eyesore, and you're concerned who is going to get hurt in that house," Kristine Bockerman is talking about the house on the corner of 41st and Izard.
It first caught fire in December.
"It was scary. We woke up, early in the morning, to the sounds of what we thought was fireworks or something," said Sebastian Ryther, who lives across the street.
Then in March, a second, smaller fire.
The fire report from March notes the fire in December and says the house has been unsecured ever since with signs of continued homeless occupancy.
Neighbors have concerns as the building sits open.
"Just about people going in there and then the building falling on top of them, I mean, that's the thing that we are most concerned about," Bockerman said.
"The safety of not only ourselves, you know, living across the street from something like this, or like the eyesore of it, or, you know, any of those sorts of things, I am concerned about the safety of the homeless population," Ryther said.
The house is crumbling on the inside but still standing. The city told Molly it is making plans to get rid of it, but that could still be months away.
The planning department tells me they have an open code case on this address, and it's been in violation since December. They plan to put it on the city's next demolition list to be bid in July or August, then contractors coordinate the wreck permits with their schedules.
The city doesn't have a specific date for demolition but is hopeful it would be by the end of the year.
Molly: "The hope is by the end of the year. Does that bring you any sort of comfort?"
Kristine: "No, because that house is pretty bad."
Reporter Molly Hudson asked the planning department about securing the house until it can be demolished, but has not heard back.
