The troubling case of the blowtorch-wielding homeless man eyed for arson during the Los Angeles wildfires has sparked new debate over the Democratic city’s general alleged kid-glove handling of its vagrants.
Blazes caused by the throngs of homeless flooding LA’s streets with potentially deadly encampments doubled between 2020 and 2023, soaring to 13,909, according to a report.
“I fear for my safety,” Hollywood resident and realtor Levi Freeman told the local NBC TV affiliate in May.
“A tent fire could set other buildings ablaze and then go to the next building if [firefighters] can’t get here fast enough.”
And it’s not just residents in homes at risk, he said.
“People are literally dying in the streets in tents burning down around them,” Freeman said.
The country’s homeless scourge is so serious that the US Supreme Court even issued a ruling on it in June allowing municipalities to arrest people camping out on the street.
But LA Mayor Karen Bass — whose city is one of the most plagued in terms of the homeless — only dismissed the ruling as political.
A satellite image shows some of the devastation from the Palisades Fire still ravagaing LA County. Planet Labs PBC“Today’s decision is not surprising given the make-up of the Court but disappointing nonetheless,’’ Bass said in a statement at the time.
“The only way to address this crisis is to bring people indoors with housing and supportive services,’’ she said. “In the City of Los Angeles, we will continue leading with this approach.’’
But as public sentiment continues to grow against such liberal stances, Bass seems to have started to come around.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to ban homeless encampments and move vagrants to “tent cities’’ — and Bass, after Trump’s sweeping win in November, agreed to try working with the conservative GOPer on the issue, including by moving the city’s homeless to shelters on federal property.
LA’s Fire Department will likely be thrilled.
Eleven of its firefighters were injured, including one seriously with “facial, head and ear trauma,’’ battling a fiery explosion at a homeless encampment in June.
“It was caused by the homeless, and we nearly lost a firefighter over this,” LAFD Capt. Erik Scott told local TV outlet KTLA at the time.
A homeless man allegedly armed by this blowtorch was accused by LA locals of igniting old Christmas trees and other debris in their neighborhood last week. @reresellsvroomvrooms/Instagram
Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva was nabbed Thursday for allegedly using a blowtorch to ignite debris. @reresellsvroomvrooms/Instagram“I’m asking the city of Los Angeles, where is the outrage for what’s happening in the city, because what we’re doing today is not working,’’ Scott said.
Homeless fires are such an issue that the fire department has launched a special effort to target illegal encampments in high-risk fire zones.
Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, an illegal migrant from Mexico, was nabbed Thursday by LA residents who allegedly saw him torching old Christmas trees and debris with what one local described as a “flamethrower” soon after a massive wildfire began in the region. Cops arrested him, but he has not been charged, at least yet.
It is unknown if he may have started one of the recent devastating, deadly, widespread wildfires.
LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman seemed intent on sending a message in a Monday night press conference — though he did not address the case of Sierra-Leyva and whether he would be charged with arson.
He announced heavy charges for nine people accused of looting evacuated homes, and one for arson.
Jose Escober was hit with three arson charges over a Pioneer Park fire he allegedly started.
Escobar faces up to nine years in prison if convicted, while Hochman clarified the blaze he is accused of starting was not connected to the current wildfires.
But some social-media commenters said that regardless, homelessness and fires are a major issue for LA.
“50% of the fires in Los Angeles are homeless related, costing LA hundreds of millions,” former Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Chief Patrick Jordan wrote on X on Sunday.
Firefighters have the daunting task of trying to bring LA’s wildfires under control a week later. AFP via Getty Images“A third of all calls involve arson. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out, we reduce the homeless problem, we reduce fire risks in Los Angeles,” he said.
A second man, Ruben Montes, 29, of Baldwin Park also was nabbed — and charged with arson — over a small area brush fire Sunday.
LA authorities said in May — at the time of NBC’s report on the deeply troubling increase in fires by the homeless — that blazes apparently start when the vagrants tap into electrical wires under the sidewalk to power their encampments.
“This is a huge problem,’’ local Jeanne Rice told the outlet after a recently nearby fire.
“We can’t even walk around the neighborhood safely anymore.’’
LA Deputy Mayor of Communications Zach Seidl said in a statement to The Post on Monday, “To be clear — anybody who commits arson will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, period. Also, homelessness decreased for the first time in years in L.A., which makes everyone safer.”
