Carport Fire May Be Case of Arson

An arsonist may have set a fire that gutted a carport early Monday at a Garden Grove apartment complex where tenants are embroiled in a dispute with the property owners and managers, fire officials said Monday.

The fire broke out about 2:13 a.m. at the Haster Gardens complex. No one was injured, but a pregnant woman fainted and was treated at a hospital and released.

The fire destroyed three cars, causing an estimated $40,000 in damage, and was contained in about 17 minutes, said Capt. Bill Keen, a Garden Grove fire investigator. The cause of the fire is undetermined but “very suspicious due to the circumstances at the complex,” Keen said. “There aren’t a lot of accidental fires in carport lots.”

Rosie Nunez, one of the managers at Haster Gardens, said she also suspects foul play, but she does not believe the fire has anything to do with the tenant dispute.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. Some of the tenants have said there were some little gang kids nearby the area at around [the time of the fire]. Everything’s just a big mystery,” she said.

Two of the cars that were destroyed belong to tenants who are participating in a rent strike in protest of conditions at the complex. Six families recently filed suit against Haster Gardens’ owners and property managers, alleging that tenants are forced to live in substandard conditions ranging from roach and rodent infestations to units lacking heat, hot water and electricity.

The city also has filed suit, alleging numerous health and safety violations at the complex.

Property managers have said they are working as quickly as they can to respond to tenants’ complaints, and they stress that many of the poor conditions at the 148-unit housing complex existed before they took over in October. Since then, they say, more than $100,000 has been spent on repairs.

Tom Simon, a private negotiator who is representing about 60 families at Haster Gardens, said he plans to launch his own investigation into the fire.

Simon said some of the tenants reported that they had difficulty finding fire extinguishers, and the one fire extinguisher that was located failed to work. But Nunez, the property manager, said she was unaware of a shortage of fire extinguishers and questioned whether the extinguisher that was found had been properly used.

Keen said the availability of working fire extinguishers would be examined as part of the investigation into the blaze.