Sun Valley homeless accused of siphoning power from electrical poles, sparking fire

LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - Furious and fed-up residents of Sun Valley are accusing the local homeless population of siphoning power from light poles in an attempt to power their RV's, leading to a fire that incinerated an RV, and nearly caught a business on fire.

Cesar Castro, a supervisor at Dazian Fabric says he showed up to work Friday to find an RV burned to a crisp in front of the business, with a power pole burner, and a light pole burned with its lower panel removed and circuits fried.

"I saw a generator right here melted, another generator in this area melted," he said. "But it looked like it was all connected right here, and then as you can see this caught on fire and it went up the pole and it cut off the internet and our phone service."

Castro says the homeless concentration in the area has been a problem for years.

"It's really frustrating because this is my livelihood here, I come to work every day, if the building would have burned down then I can't pay my mortgage, I can't buy food for my kids," he said. "That whole hillside burned a couple years ago and with incidents like this happening who knows what can happen."

Dozens of RVs can be seen setting up shop along San Fernando Boulevard, with hordes of trash next to many of them.

Several electrical poles in the area appeared to have their panels tampered with.

Transients in one RV told FOX 11 they don't know what happened with the fire, but they said nobody has been trying to siphon power.

Residents and business owners dispute that.

Jeff Winterbloom says his employer has had to hire extra security due to the homeless.

"Our security has walked by a few times and seen that they've actually gone in and take the access plate off the light poles and just tap into a live whatever voltage it is," he said.

The problem evidently so bad, several residents flagged us down to vent about the issue.

"It is so bad, I live on the corner, I'm afraid of coming out at night, I'm afraid of going in, it's terrible," one woman said.

"I live on the corner, I don't need my house lighting up on fire because of their negligence," said Michael Westmore. "I understand they need to go somewhere, but not in my backyard."