Fire destroyed a vacant, condemned house at 2606 Olive Street early Thursday morning, marking the second time in the last two months the structure has caught fire. An investigation is underway into the cause of the blaze.

Fire caused extensive damage to the home in April, and the structure was designated dangerous by the City of St Joseph last month. The absentee owner has been ordered to tear it down.

The house erupted into flames again early Thursday. Flames and intense heat from the fire sparked a dangerous situation at the homes on either side. Firefighters took a defensive posture on those houses, and poured water onto the main fire from several aerial trucks.

The neighbor at 2610 Olive St was in the process of renovating his property.

“We’re just repairing the roof rafters where it was damaged,” says John Wolfenbarger, who was hired by the neighboring property owner. “It looks like they got a little bit of charcoal on them, and got a little bit burnt from the heat.”

“We just got it inspected, and got the permit, we started working on it, and redoing it and everything.”

There was also damage to the home immediately west of the fire address. The family in that home escaped safely. There were no injuries reported.