A home in East Naples along Terrace Avenue went up in flames Monday afternoon.
Randy Lyon and his five siblings took ownership of the house after their father, Dale, passed away last year. While the family had been trying to sell the home, it became a place where homeless people camped. They had to chase them off and post no-trespassing signs all over the property.
Despite their efforts to secure the property—boarding up windows and locking doors—it wasn’t enough.
"On the neighboring lot, there were a lot of times there were people camping and living in the woods back there, you know, homeless, and occasionally they would end up in our property's backyard and we would chase them off," Lyon said.
Dale Lyon built the house in 1948 when he was just 18 years old. Randy and his father both served as firefighters for East Naples Fire before it became Greater Naples Fire—the same agency that responded to the fire and pulled someone from the burning building.
Lyon tells me the person rescued was a homeless man trespassing on the property.
"My understanding is when the fire department arrived, they pulled him out, started CPR, brought him back. And last I knew, he had burns about his face and upper body if I understood it right. And that he was transported to the hospital. And last I heard, he was in critical condition," said Lyon.
The house had no working electricity or water. Lyon hopes the man survives but believes he may have started the fire.
"So my guess, and maybe it's just total speculation [...] maybe they had a light source, maybe it was flame. You know, I don't know that for sure," Lyon said.
Greater Naples Fire says the cause of the fire is undetermined. Lyon has decided to press trespassing and burglary charges against the man who was inside the home. There is no update on his condition.