Filipinos in LA on edge during arson spree

LOS ANGELES—During the three days at the height of the arson spree, Fil-Am couple Valorie and Jeff, weren’t sure exactly what to do to celebrate the New Year.

Should they stay home and watch their belongings? Or go out and celebrate the New Year, while a serial arsonist was on the loose and targeting random cars and apartment complexes in the Los Angeles area?

There was reason for anxiety for Jeff, a 37-year-old photographer, and his wife Valorie.

Right down the street from their apartment on Colfax in North Hollywood was a structure fire, a few blocks away a vehicle was lit on fire. Within a one-mile radius, two cars were lit on fire and a car port structure.

The couple chose to go out.

“It was crazy,” said Jeff. “At first we didn’t want to go out but we watched the news and made sure our cars and doors were locked at night.”

More than 370,000 Filipinos live in the Los Angeles area, the largest settlement in the US. Many of them live in the areas where the arsonist, now identified as 24-year-old Harry Burkhart, struck: North Hollywood, Burbank, Hollywood and West Hollywood.

ABS-CBN reported that a Filipino couple’s BMW was one of the vehicles struck by the arsonist.

“I just feel so relieved that it finally stopped. I feel sorry for the guy. I forgive the person, but I still hope that justice will be served soon,” Bernadita Tuazon-Cheng, the owner of the burned BMW, to ABS-CBN.

From December 29 until his arrest on January 2, Burkhart set more than 50 fires to various properties and random vehicles across the LA region. It is estimated that the damages are beyond $3 million.

Burkhart, 24, has been charged with 37 counts of arson and could face life in prison.

According to reports, Burkhart began his arson spree in retaliation, after authorities detained his mother on a separate charge.