Arson is suspected in a fire that destroyed an abandoned home near Lecompton early Saturday morning.

A little more than a year ago, the same home had been the site of a small arson fire.

On Saturday, a call came in about 3:40 a.m. for a residence in the 1700 block of East 50 Road where flames were visible from the outside.

When the Kanwaka Township Fire Department arrived, the vacant house was on fire from the basement to the roof, Capt. Duane Filkins said.

Saturday morning, the Kansas State Fire Marshal was on scene to investigate the fire.

The home wasn’t connected to any utilities and there was no obvious source of ignition. That fact, along with the intensity of the fire, makes arson a likely cause, Filkins said.

On Saturday, the fire department noticed the metal beams in the house were sagging, something that doesn’t happen until a fire reaches above 1200 degrees.

“The intensity of the fire makes you think right off the top of your head that something is not right,” Filkins said. “Even a vacant house doesn’t burn with that much ferocity.”

Last year’s fire occurred on Oct. 4. A suspect was named and the case taken to court, Filkins said. He didn’t know the outcome of the court case.

Last month, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office issued several criminal trespass warnings on the property.

The home is owned by quarry operation, which is doing excavation work south of the home and is using a nearby building for storage.

A property damage estimate has not be established since the fire department doesn’t know if the owners had plans on restoring the building. If not, the loss would be zero.

“It’s a great old house,” Filkins said. “With a little bit of money, it would have been a great place. … It’s just a really shame that someone thought it would be fun to set it on fire.”