Empty houses burning — at this point they just make me sad. The house with the sign on it has been sitting vacant for years, according to one of the firefighters who put it out Saturday morning. Three surrounding buildings will need repairs, including the one in the picture, which was on fire when crews arrived. And this three unit house, listed for less than $50,000, is now basically worthless.

It goes back to the issue of what to do with these vacant houses. They are a drag in so many ways, and worst of all when they catch fire and damage other people’s property. Hopefully the $4.3 million will make some headway in dealing with this problem. If not, there are still a lot of empty buildings sitting around waiting to catch fire.