Vacant East Hollywood home catches fire for third time, raising concerns of city leaders

A vacant home in East Hollywood caught fire again early Friday morning, marking at least the third such time that it's done so, raising concerns from city leaders and nearby residents. 

The fire was reported a little after 1:30 a.m. at a craftsman-style home in the 4800 block of W. Melrose Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. 

Crews arrived to find the home engulfed the flames, which took them nearly an hour to extinguish. Video from the scene show large flames through the roof of the two-story house with a large billowing cloud of black smoke overhead. 

While there were no injuries reported, firefighters tell KCAL News that this is far from the first time the home has been ablaze. 

It's been such a nuisance in the recent past, that the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety had already presented the property to their Board of Commissioners as a nuisance property and that they wanted to talk to the owner about the issues they've been dealing with, what they call vagrants and vandals. 

They allege that gang members and other crimes happen on the property, which also has a detached garage, to be secured as it has been continually breached by unauthorized people. 

At their next scheduled meeting, they are set to discuss abatement. 

KCAL News has not yet been able to get in contact with the property's owner, who operates as an LLC. However, the former owner of the home, which used to be called the Melrose Inn, said that she was forced to sell after experiencing a number of family issues. 

Property records show that it went through a foreclosure process before ending up with the current owner about a year ago.