Fire at former Germantown YWCA ruled arson

The blaze that damaged the Germantown YWCA building this week was started by someone who set fire to combustible objects on the third floor, officials said.

The arson task force has identified no suspects but is investigating, Fire Chief Daniel Williams said.

The fire started in the building on the 5800 block of Germantown Avenue shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday and burned for about an hour before firefighters contained it. Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

The property is part of an ongoing dispute between the city Redevelopment Authority and Germantown Settlement, a longtime nonprofit with a recent record of financial troubles.

Germantown Settlement bought the YWCA property in 2006 for $1.3 million, using a loan from the authority, and announced plans to renovate the building. But the site has remained vacant, and the authority foreclosed this year. In March, the building was put up for sheriff's sale. The next month, a subsidiary of Germantown Settlement filed for bankruptcy protection.

Emanuel V. Freeman, president of Germantown Settlement, has declined to comment on the bankruptcy filing and did not respond to a request Friday for a comment about the fire.

Until recently, the dilapidated building had become home to squatters and vagrants. Police evicted them several days before the fire, Williams said.

"That's not to say the squatters set the fire," he said. "It's just a piece of the puzzle."

Neighbors said that they had heard vagrants were living there but that they had not been a problem.

"They really need to do something about it before it gets worse," longtime Germantown resident Nina Jones said. "They don't want to leave it like that. It's dangerous."