Arsonists caught on video as LA burns; half of fires historically set by homeless

By Kenneth Schrupp
The Center Square

Arsonists have been caught on camera lighting fires across Los Angeles as the city burns, highlighting the role of crime and homelessness in the area’s deadly wildfires. 

In 2023, City Journal reported on how the Los Angeles Fire Department spent approximately $427 million of its $854 million total on homeless-related fires; two years earlier, a Los Angeles Times analysis found more than half of all fires LAFD responded to were associated with homelessness. 

Podcaster and Stanford professor Andrew Huberman captured a video of what appear to be arsonists in dark clothing setting a fire in Santa Monica, an urban area well beyond the evacuation zone and far from any active wildfires. 

“People are lighting fires in otherwise non-burning urban areas of LA,” said Huberman on X. “Saw this happen first hand at 302 Pico in Santa Monica.”

Huberman shared that the fire department was able to put out the fire before it spread.

In 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared that a major underpass fire that shut down the I-10 freeway for days was determined to be the result of “malice.” 

After that fire, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes the Pacific Palisades — where Cal Fire says a preliminary survey suggests approximately 5,316 structures have been destroyed — ordered the Los Angeles Fire Department to create a report on the number of encampment fires that have occurred underneath freeways in the city.

The city has reported 45% of homeless individuals are “service resistant,” or unwilling to take offered free services. With 75% of unsheltered homeless surveyed in a California Policy Lab analysis saying they have a drug or alcohol addiction, and 78% saying they have a severe mental illness, it’s likely many of the service resistant individuals are those with substance abuse disorders, severe mental illness, or both.