When a June 24 fire sent flames blasting out some third floor windows on the south side of the old Fair Oaks Middle School, it caught the attention of anyone going by on nearby Fifth Avenue South.

It should have caught the attention of everyone else in the community also.

The fire was bad, gutting an estimated 3,000 square feet of a building that sustained a serious fire on Memorial Day. But beyond the immediate fire damage, the blaze was emblematic of some bigger issues in the community that need to be addressed.

One of those problems is the presence of vacant buildings and the hazards that they can become. Fair Oaks Middle School and the Warden Plaza are the biggest of them, but there are abandoned houses in the city as well.

Some of those houses have fallen victim to fire already, but inexplicably are still standing. For example, a house on Third Avenue North near Seventh Street is a burnt-out hulk after being torched in 2022. It is still there, but some other houses in better shape not far away were purchased by the City Council and demolished to make way for some future development. A similar burnt-out wreck stands on Seventh Avenue North between 14th and 15th streets.

The other problem is homelessness. We will not pass judgment on homeless people because we do not know how they got into that situation. Those of us who have homes should count our blessings knowing that a cascade of unfortunate events could land us on the streets, too.

But we as a community must find out why the homeless population seems to be growing. Why are so many people ending up on our streets? Where did they come from?

There appears to be ample evidence that homeless people are getting into these abandoned buildings. That solves their immediate need for shelter, but isn’t really good or safe for them. And if they are in one of those places that catches fire they may not be able to get out and firefighters may not be able to get to them.

The solution to these problems is bigger than any one office, non-profit or government agency.

What is needed is a concerted effort by the public and private sectors to address the problems of abandoned buildings and homelessness.That is going to be hard work. But it will be hard work worth doing because it will help to make Fort Dodge a safer place we can all be proud of.

It is an effort that needs to start right away.