String of fires alarms residents in historic South Dallas neighborhood

Three homes have burned within weeks, including two reportedly vacant properties.

Three homes have erupted in flames within about a month in and around Dallas’ South Boulevard-Park Row Historic District, putting neighbors on edge as investigators work to determine what caused the fires.

“I think there's lots of theories going around of is it an arsonist? Is it what's going on? And so I think everyone's, everyone's worried to different extents,” neighbor Martha Thrash said.

Harry Robinson Jr. said no one lived in the home next door to him on South Boulevard when it caught fire around midnight Aug. 18.

"My son woke me up to tell me where to get out the house because the fire people told us where to leave. So we got out of the house and sat across the street for about an hour and a half. And boy, it was interesting to see that fire. It was real bad," Robinson Jr. said.

On Saturday, neighbors spotted flames shooting from another empty house just a block away, this time in broad daylight. Neighbors said the home was soon to be renovated.

"Middle of day. It's 100-plus degrees outside. It's not like anyone is making a fire in the house to stay warm and an accident happened. So it is, yeah. Alarming, for sure,” Thrash said.

Thrash said concern grew as news spread of another home across MLK Boulevard that was reduced to rubble the same day.

Dallas Fire-Rescue said the house on Myrtle Street was also reportedly vacant.

“I am concerned that you'd have three fires in the same neighborhood within two or three weeks. So I don't know if there are homeless people who are in those places or what, but I am concerned,” Robinson Jr. said.

Dallas Fire-Rescue said the causes of all three fires remain undetermined and active investigations are underway.

Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua released a statement calling the fires “heartbreaking” and said investigators are working “toward the broader goal of building a case that supports filing charges, if warranted.”

Neighbors said their concerns extend beyond protecting property to preserving a community that dates back more than a century.

“It's pretty devastating to watch some that have been even in the process of beginning to be renovated, now being just like destroyed,” Thrash said.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.