By David Rosen

A house fire that damaged a property on South Sullivan Street in South Park early Monday morning may have been caused by squatters in what neighbors say is an an otherwise unoccupied house.

The house suffered $50,000 damage and according to Kyle Moore of the Seattle Fire Department was caused by improperly disposed of smoking materials.

The same house was the scene of a fire on June 11. That fire, which occurred in an unattached garage, did $30,000 in damage and the heat affected the home next door. It was caused by "ignited combustibles" which Moore explained were outdoor cooking related.

Neighbor Stephanie Jones-Gunn spoke exclusively to the West Seattle Herald, "Someone came and knocked on our door about 4 o' clock in the morning, said there was a fire next door, he had seen the smoke and flames while driving on the freeway. The flames were pretty high and were coming from the eastern side of the house, looking like it was coming out from the attic. I called 911 but the fire department was already on their way. Eventually there was about 10 firetrucks and the fire was quickly put out.

We're not sure where it started but it looked like someone threw something into the open area of the attic because the house has been empty for so long. In the past year or so there has been some people living in various parts of this street that has had friends squatting there and we have been calling the cops on this house for months due to the people living there. Last week someone started a small fire in the brush in the back of the house and there was also a fire that burnt down a garage on the property about 6 months ago."

Jones-Gunn also claimed the house is a known drug house.