Three recent fires in San Diego are now confirmed to have been caused by homeless, adding to California’s ever-growing threat of homeless-instigated destructive blazes.
As local station NBC 7 reported Friday:
"Three fires that broke out in San Diego last week started in homeless encampments, the San Diego Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) confirmed to NBC 7 on Thursday.
“Those fires were the Friars Fire in Mission Valley, the Center Fire in Rancho Bernardo and the Gilman Fire in La Jolla, according to MAST Capt. Pat Buckley.”
In Los Angeles, there were 13,909 homeless-caused fires in 2023, nearly twice the number recorded just three years earlier, NBC 4 Los Angeles reports. “Some of these fires are apparently caused by homeless people tapping into city electrical wires under the sidewalk,” NBC 4 found, noting that tampering with these wires can set off explosions.
An investigation by local CBS 2 found that the homeless accounted for a majority of fires (54%) in Los Angeles – and four of five fires (80%) in the downtown area.
Ironically, the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget in the 2023-2024 fiscal year was only two-thirds the size of the $1.3 billion budget L.A. dedicated to the homeless. And, for 2024-2025, the fire department’s budget was cut by $17 million, Fox News reports:
“Los Angeles' budget is in the spotlight as multiple wildfires rage around the city amid revelations that Mayor Karen Bass slashed the fire department's budget last year while prioritizing spending on the city's homeless population.”
…
“From the 2023-2024 to the 2024-2025 budgets, the LAFD’s budget was reduced by over $17 million from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423.”