For a third time, a home on a residential street in Long Beach caught fire, this time damaging a vacant daycare next door.
The home in the 1200 block of Junipero Avenue was up in flames Monday night, raising concerns with neighbors who say the home has been subject to squatters.
“The house from last year has done caught on fire again,” said a neighbor who recorded video of the fire.
“We thought we were going to have to evacuate the whole neighborhood,” said Christine B., whose mother lives across the street from the craftsman-style home that had burned twice in the last few years.
“Our neighbors were talking about why we didn’t condemn this thing a long time ago,” said Christina. “It should be condemned. It should be bulldozed, it’s a fire hazard.”
Neighbors told NBC4 last year, after reporting on the problems behind the second fire, that the city needed to do more to address not only the eyesore, but the trash that had accumulated on the property and the dozens of people going in and out that they called “squatters.”
“I reported this house no less than 10 times,” said a neighbor, who did not want to be identified. “We had no end in sight
The granddaughter of the original homeowner spoke to NBC4 off-camera last year and said her grandfather passed away and left the house to her. She also claimed the “squatters” were her friends and family and blamed a hot plate for the second fire.
The city worked to get them help and clean up the damage, but a year later, neighbors said they were back at the home where trash started piling up again and a third fire was ignited.
“These continued incidents are not acceptable and compromise quality of life for our residents,” said Cindy Allen, Long Beach city councilwoman. “I will be working with our city departments to determine how best we can address this problematic property as expeditiously as possible.”
Friday morning, crews were out putting a fence around the home. Neighbors hope the house will soon be gone.
“I hope it gets bulldozed and cleaned up… so it could be safe for the neighborhood,” said Christina.
Long Beach Fire is investigating the cause of the fire and there were no reported injuries.