‘I’m worried it’s gonna be my house;’ String of fires in Venice over weekend have locals worried

By KCAL KCBS Staff

Click here for updates on this story

    VENICE, California (KCAL) — Venice residents are concerned that a recent string of fires might turn into something much bigger in the near future if city officials don’t step in to stop the spread before it’s too late.

“It was a whole scene, I wish I took a picture, cause it was like, complete chaos – fire, smoke, the fire department, a homeless person on a bike – it was just Venice summed up in a picture. It was really crazy,” recalled Daniel Janinejad, one of the many residents on hand at a series of trash fires in Venice on Saturday.

The incident he’s referring to was one of a string of garbage fires that popped up over the weekend in the same residential area.

Residents claim that the fires were all started at around 12:30 p.m. in multiple dumpsters on Paloma Court, just feet from their homes.

Now, they’re worried that this string of fires might not be the worst of it, noting the fact that they were lucky it happened in the middle of the day and not while they were sleeping.

“A little too close for comfort,” said Marianne Hvilsted.”I think this is gonna make us move, and I’ve lived here since 1997. I can’t take this chance with a kid and pets and everything.”

They all seem to be on the same page in thinking that the series of blazes were set off by a homeless person, especially with the long line of fires tied back to the large community in Venice dating back to late 2020. Los Angeles Fire Department recently disclosed that more than half of the reported fires in the Venice area are connected to homeless people in some fashion.

Authorities still aren’t sure who or what started the fires, but Janinejad said that whatever it was, it wasn’t natural.

“It was really scary because it wasn’t like he just set a fire, like he threw a matchstick,” he said. “It was definitely like some sort of fuel, some sort of kerosene or something, because the fire wouldn’t stop even after being extinguished.”

Both Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Fire Department officials declined to comment when approached by CBS reporters on the topic, but the residents have little doubt, and they’re worried it might happen again.

Janinejad detailed that if they had been just a few minutes slower, it would’ve been a completely different scene.

“If we left it an extra five minutes or whatever, God forbid what would have happened to this neighborhood, it was really crazy,” he said.

“I’m worried it’s gonna be my house. Because all of these – my house is like this – it’s all wood,” said Patricia Synder.

She was out when the fires first happened, but when she turned down the street to head back home she was greeted with what she called a “pretty scary” sight.

“I got home and it was underway,” Snyder recounted to CBS reporter Laurie Perez. “There was a woman at the beginning of the street and (she) said, ‘The streets on fire!’ and I said, ‘Oh my God!’”

Lucky for her, many of her neighbors were already working to contain the flames before Los Angeles Fire Department crews arrived on scene.

“Me and my buddy were just going back and forth with pots and pans trying to put these trash cans out,” Janinejad recalled. He continued noting how chaotic the scene was as he tried to protect his neighborhood. “From here all the way down the street – all these trash cans are on fire,” he said.

The charred out remains of several dumpsters and trash cans still remained on the street, as well as one stairway that was briefly engulfed by the flames before a neighbor stepped in with a fire extinguisher.

It was unclear if a suspect was arrested in connection with the incident.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.