ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A historic home that had already become the center of a lengthy code enforcement battle with the City of Orlando is now badly damaged after a two-alarm fire.<\/p>\n
Orlando firefighters responded Saturday afternoon to the home on East Concord Street in the Lake Eola Heights neighborhood, where crews found the two-story house fully engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n
Everyone inside made it out safely. Orlando Fire Department officials said two people were displaced, no one was injured, and firefighters prevented the flames from spreading to neighboring homes.<\/p>\n
When News 6 returned to the property Sunday, a man who identified himself as an insurance fire inspector was examining the damage. An Orlando Fire Department crew also stopped by the home.<\/p>\n
The property had already drawn attention months before the fire.<\/p>\n
After viewers contacted the News 6 Neighborhood Network about complaints involving the home, News 6 investigated. Our reporting found the City of Orlando was seeking to foreclose on the property after code enforcement fines grew to more than $500,000. City officials alleged the owners were using the home for short-term rentals and events. The owners previously denied operating a business there, telling News 6 the gatherings were for family and friends.<\/p>\n
Longtime neighbor John Smoger said he was among those who complained to the city and police about activity at the home over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe noise mostly was the problem,\u201d Smoger said. \u201cMostly on weekends they would have events going on over there. And like I said, we\u2019ve complained to the city. We\u2019ve called the police on them. So it\u2019s been an ongoing problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smoger said he was away when his wife called to tell him the neighboring home was on fire. By the time he returned, he said flames had engulfed much of the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole first and second floor was just engulfed in flames,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite his frustrations with the property, Smoger said seeing the historic home burn was heartbreaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sad,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew the owner that renovated the house originally, and I know the work he put into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The home is part of Orlando\u2019s historic Lake Eola Heights neighborhood.<\/p>\n
As for what caused the fire, officials have not released an official cause. However, the Orlando Fire Department said its Fire Marshal\u2019s Office is investigating the fire as accidental.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A historic home that had already become the center of a lengthy code enforcement battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[144367,144369,144365,139,144368,141,144366,144370,140],"class_list":["post-353164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-code-violation-fines","tag-historic-home-damage","tag-neighborhood-complaints","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-fire-investigation","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-historic-district","tag-orlando-neighborhood-complaints","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}