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Friday, May 24, 2013 | 6:16 p.m.

Posted: 3:55 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23, 2012

9 structure fires at same place in last four years

County will not take steps to remove abandoned buildings

By Ric Dupont

sheriff's office, fire officials

EL PASO, Texas —

The old Magic Landing amusement park has been shut down for more than 20 years. Ticket booths still line the front of the property, but the windows are busted and broken glass lies everywhere.

Most of the structures inside of the park are still standing, but many of them are burned.

The El Paso Sheriff’s Office reports that there have been nine fires on the property from 2008 to present. All of them, including the one that three fire departments responded to early Monday morning, are suspected to be caused by arson.

There’s no one suspect at large, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Eileen Lopez. Homeless people frequently use the property for shelter. Many times those people start fires.

The property sits outside of surrounding city lines. It falls into the jurisdiction of El Paso County.

El Paso County Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr. said that the county could start a legal process to have these buildings torn down, however, that's not on the agenda right now.

"At this point that's not the proper way of doing things,” Gandara said. “I think, first, we let the owners deal with this situation and then we talk to the owner to see what happened, what's occurred, and what they're doing in order to clean the site up.”

Gandara said he hopes that there's security on this property at night, at least until a decision is made.

No one was hurt in this early-morning fire.

If you have a story that you feel deserves media attention, contact Ric Dupont at ric.dupont@kfoxtv.com.

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