For the third time, a house in a residential area in Long Beach caused a fire, this time causing an unoccupied daycare next door.
The 1200 block of Junipero Avenue home was burned into flames Monday night, raising concerns with neighbors who say the home is being subject to squatter.
“The house was re-ignited last year,” said a neighbor who recorded the fire video.
“We thought we needed to evacuate the entire neighborhood,” said Christine B., who lives across the street from the artisan-style house that has been burning twice in recent years.
“Our neighbors were talking about why we didn’t blame this long ago,” Christina said. “It should be condemned. It must be a bulldozer, it is a fire hazard.”
After reporting to NBC4 last year about the issues behind the second fire, the city told NBC4 that it needed to do more to deal with not only eyelashes, but also the garbage it has accumulated in its property and dozens of people called “squatters.”
“I’ve reported this house more than 10 times,” the neighbor said. “We had no end in front of us
The granddaughter of the former homeowner spoke to NBC4 off-camera last year and said that her grandfather had passed away and left the house. She also claimed that the “squatter” was her friends and family and blamed the hot plate for the second fire.
The city got help from them and worked to clean up the damage, but a year later, the neighbors said they were back at the house where the third fire was lit.
“These ongoing cases are unacceptable and we compromise quality of life for our residents,” said Long Beach City Councilman Cindy Allen. “I will work with the city department to determine how we can deal with this problematic property as quickly as possible.”
On Friday morning, the crew had fences around the house. Neighbors hope that the house will soon go away.
“I hope it’s bulldozed and cleaned… so it might be safe for the neighborhood,” Christina said.
Long Beach Fire is investigating the cause of the fire and no injuries have been reported.
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