At least four homeless encampment fires have broken out in the past three months in a part of Hollywood where Los Angeles Democrat Mayor Karen Bass started her effort to dismantle longstanding RV encampments and find indoor housing for those impacted.
The fires have resulted in Hollywood residents point their finger at Bass, elected last year, and City Council member Nithya Raman.
A fire that broke out last month started at a homeless encampment send embers onto a nearby apartment building, destroyed two cars and sent smoke into nearby homes.
Residents say the dismantled encampments have now repopulated.
They also say homeless residents have set up tents, tarps and other structures next to apartment buildings, along median strips and on the sidewalks under the 101 Freeway.
“People are scared for their safety,” Alexa Iles Skarpelos, who co-chairs the LAPD’s Community Police Advisory Board in Hollywood, told the LA. Times. “That next fire could cause a devastating fatality, and not just property damage.”