ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Fire Department says it’s nearly done inspecting abandoned homes that can be death traps for firefighters. One of those vacant properties recently collapsed onto a family’s property, where FOX 2 found interesting ties to a high-profile business.

It’s happening at a group of row houses on Howard Street in north St. Louis, most of which are vacant. The Hopkins family lives in one of the homes, right next where another portion is collapsing.

Cassandra Hopkins described the sound of an explosion.

“We were all asleep and we heard some type of boom,” she said.

Hopkins awoke to see the entire of the attached structure next door had collapsed into a pile of rubble.

The damage that led up to it is not new. Onlookers will point out a tree that has grown into the back wall. You can also see a brick embedded in a branch.

“Our house is not condemned. We’re not having no leaks. We just want the property taken care of,” Hopkins said.

During our interview, an inspector with the St. Louis Department of Public Safety arrived to document the damage and file a report.

A Jan. 13, 2022, fire will forever change the way St. Louis looks at a vacant building.

Firefighter Benjamin Polsen died when the roof collapsed of a burning vacant home on Cote Brilliante.

Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson responded with a daunting effort to inspect the city’s near 10,000 vacant buildings. Now, just 15 months later, he told us they are nearly done.

“Right at about a 96% completion rate,” he said. “So, as soon as they’re dispatched, they know what type of building they are going into.”

The Howard Street collapse is complicated by the fact that an occupied home is attached.

“This is my family home,” Hopkins said. “We moved here when I was 13. I’m 63.”

The collapsed portion next door is made up of two units owned by the company NorthSide Regeneration. FOX 2 pulled tax records showing the company was also three years behind on taxes for both units, for a total balance owed of $807.64.

Tax records for the Hopkins family show they are up-to-date – a $0 balance.

When we reached out to property developer Paul McKee, who runs the Northside Regeneration Project. He responded with a tax payment update – with city records now showing the balance owed is down to $504.52.

McKee said he was sending a representative to the address again soon and that they already replaced the Hopkins’ barbecue grill damaged in the collapse.

“There are two units still occupied in this string of row houses that have always been unstable,” he said in a statement. “Therefore, in the past, we have offered to purchase those units without success.”

But Hopkins said his family cannot just up and leave.

“There’s a generation here,” she said.

Hopkins believes there’s a solution if her family could just talk with someone in person.