Teen helps stop Sherman Oaks fire caused by man dragging shopping cart
Teen helps stop fire in Sherman Oaks
A teen is hailed a hero for helping take down a fire allegedly started by a man dragging a shopping cart in Sherman Oaks.
LOS ANGELES - A fire that a homeless man is seen setting next to two homes on a quiet residential street in Sherman Oaks was captured on a neighbor's security camera, coming dangerously close to the houses before a 13-year-old's quick thinking helped stop it.
The blaze broke out just after 3 a.m. on Hebsy Street, off Van Nuys Boulevard. Surveillance video shows a person pushing a cart down the street, stopping in front of one of the homes, lighting something and then fleeing with the cart as a ball of flames erupts behind the person.
Myron Tkechenko, 13, said a crack in his window and the sound of crackling woke him.
"I stood up on my couch and kind of jumped up so I could see what's happening outside," he said. "And I just see flames bursting, just terrible."
Myron called 911 and alerted his family, who moved their car out of the fire's path and began fighting the flames with a garden hose and pots of water.
"We got two pots, so while I was filling one up, my dad was throwing it at the fire," he said.
The family knocked down much of the blaze before firefighters arrived. Charred bushes were left just steps from the two homes.
Neighbors said the fire was the talk of the block. Lesley Bochert, who has lived on the street for a decade, said the way the person calmly walked away with the cart troubled her.
"I mean, he doesn't care or he's out of it," she said.
Bochert said homelessness has long been a problem in the area and has worsened in recent months. She cited encampments at a nearby park, recreational vehicles parking in the neighborhood and people living in cars in front of homes. She said her own car had been broken into during her time on the block.
"It's a bit frightening," she said.
Penny Johnson, the neighborhood block watch captain, said conditions have deteriorated. She said a homeless man keyed several cars in the area last month.
"I know it's supposed to be getting better, but we're not seeing that," Johnson said.
Johnson described homelessness as a quality-of-life issue the city continues to grapple with, and she said she hopes leaders find funding and resources to help people in need and prevent similar incidents.
"This could have been an absolute catastrophe for the neighborhood," she said.
Neighbors said they are working with local businesses to gather additional security footage of the overnight fire to help police identify the person responsible.
One note: there were no instances of "Fox 11" in the story, so no FOX 11 changes were needed. The only substantive edit beyond punctuation and grammar was changing "them" to "the person" to eliminate an ambiguous pronoun while preserving the original meaning.