Arsonists have struck again in Karnes City, according to the local fire chief.

Volunteer firefighters were called out to the scene of an abandoned, dilapidated building on the 100 block of South Davidson Street behind Sam’s Tacos at 9:35 p.m. August 27.

After extinguishing the flames on property listed as being owned by Art Rodriguez, an investigation was conducted and Karnes City Fire Chief Charlie Malik said he feels the fire was started intentionally.

"It was just one of those old vacant houses. Somebody decided to burn another one of them. It was definitely intentionally set," he said.

It’s nothing new to the local fire department, either. Case reports going back as far as 1996 tell of fires intentionally set in or close to that specific neighborhood.

So far, no one knows exactly who is to blame.

"We’ve been having problems in that neighborhood for the last 12 or 15 years. We get one or two a year over there. Somebody just keeps lighting them," Malik said. "I don’t think it’s a little kid because in 10 years, they’d have grown up and moved off."

Karnes City firefighters first started getting calls out to the area for grass fires. Eventually, structures in the area were targeted next.

Karnes City Police say they’re looking into the arson, but don’t have any suspects at the moment.

"There have been (problems in that area). We’ve never come up with any suspects or hard evidence where we could make a case."

Several years ago, police were able to make one set of arrests where a group of juveniles were found responsible for arson in that neighborhood.

The fires continued long after those arrests, though, and Jonas said he’s unsure if the same individual or group of individuals is responsible for serial arson.