Ten residents are still forced to sleep in someone else’s bed after an arsonist started a fire in their apartment building on 10th Street six days ago.
The tenants at 848 10th Street have had to relocate because their apartment is without electricity. A fire was set to the building’s utility room early Monday morning, charring the main electrical circuit. Apartments in the area also were without power for an extended period, according to neighbors.
Building owner Dana Pascoe has tried to get the situation corrected, but has run into obstacles getting power restored with California Edison. Her tenants are equally frustrated.
“Technically we are back in the building, but physically we are not,” said Rosemary, who declined to give her last name.
Santa Monica Fire Department investigators are ruling arson caused the fire. Similar fires have occurred in the area in the past year. Officials believe someone intentionally set a storage locker on fire in a carport off the alleyway behind the building.
“This is really a hate thing... someone around here doesn’t like us,” said Rosemary. “This person knew what he was doing.
“This person is a professional,” she added. Fire department investigator Joe Paneno said in many of the carport fires that have occurred in the neighborhoods between Montana and Broadway Avenues, and Second and 14th Streets, the areas were cluttered with debris. That could be one reason why they are being targeted by arsonists.
But Rosemary said the area under her apartment is kept up and is free of garbage.
“I have lived here for 27 years and it is very important to me what our neighborhood is like,” she said.
Monday’s fire is the seventh arson case in alley carports in the past year. A task force has been formed between the city fire and police departments in attempt to link the crimes.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 17, 2001. Read the original PDF.