Photo by Janelle Patterson Marietta Police and Fire respond to a house fire at the vacant property at 741 1/2 Greene St. Wednesday.

MARIETTA — Across from the Marietta Mills apartments along Greene Street smoke streamed from the windows of a vacant house Wednesday morning.

“I was in the back of our house doing laundry and I smelled smoke, I went out and saw smoke coming out the back and then saw it coming out an upstairs window next door,” said neighbor Ashlie Thompson, 28.

Right next door at 741 1/2 Greene St. sits the blighted property owned by Joseph T. Flaherty, of Merryhill Street in Marietta.

The two properties sit less than 10 feet apart, and closer to the back of the house, less than three feet apart.

“We’re so lucky it didn’t spread to our home,” Thompson added.

Photo by Janelle Patterson Marietta police and fire departments believe the fire at 741 1/2 Greene St. Wednesday was contained to the charred remains of an electric cord in a porcelain sink.

The neighboring house has been vacant for at least the last three years, according to Thompson and her husband Derrik who said they have only seen Flaherty four to five times each summer to mow the grass on the lot.

Flaherty did not answer calls for comment Wednesday.

But with the vacancy, the opportunity for squatting was evident to investigators.

One firefighter exited the home Wednesday to tell Marietta police that there were items in the back room that indicated someone had been sleeping in the house.

He said a mattress, clothing and a food assistance card were found and there was evidence of illegal drug activity.

Photo by Janelle Patterson A mattress, clothing, drug paraphernalia and prepaid card were evidence that someone had been living in the home prior to Wednesday’s fire at 741 1/2 Greene St., Marietta, Wednesday as firefighters checked for hotspots in the vacant property.

“Three or four days ago we saw the front door open but there are a bunch of kids that run around here and I just thought it had been one of them or the hard winds,” said Ashlie Thompson.

“I never thought someone was in there when I went up and closed it,” added Derrik.

But when Marietta firefighters carried out the charred remains of an electrical cord in a porcelain sink the puzzle of what may have happened began to come together.

“They’re probably burning off the coating to get the copper for drug money,” one firefighter noted before walking back inside the house.

Derrik said he didn’t find that insight surprising.

“I work at an electric supply warehouse and have contractors dropping off scrap all the time that they don’t need anymore, that probably came off my back porch,” he said.

“That house just needs to be torn down, the foundation nearest us has collapsed, it’s awful,” added Ashlie.

Marietta Fire Chief C.W. Durham said the emergency call was made after 11 a.m. and once his team was on scene the fire was put out quickly.

“The problem with these abandoned houses is it burns until somebody notices it,” he said. “This looks like it started on the first floor.”

Durham’s team used a fan to air out the house before continuing the investigation with city police.

“At this time there has been no determination made on the home,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “Wayne Rhinehart with property maintenance may move on the house but that’s his call… (And) the police department got a hold of the owner.”

MPD Sgt. Errol Kramer added that leads have been obtained on who may have been living in the house illegally.

“Right now we’re in the course of investigating the individual,” he said. “And after talking with the owner they are leaning toward tearing down the house and what avenues they can go about doing that. I almost fell through the floor there when I was in there so, in my opinion, it would cost less to tear down than fix.”

Kramer confirmed that there was drug paraphernalia present and that a reloadable prepaid card was found in the home but without a name printed on it.