Ok, I just got home, it is 3:09 a.m. I just came from all 5 fires. 19Th 20Th,21st, 22ND, and 23rd. I met up with the fire department at about 12:30, they were just putting out the 3rd fire, a laundry room in an apartment building on Pacific &
22nd. I was having a chat about all the fires and they said that they had already put out 2 and this was the 3rd in 5 blocks.

As I stood talking to them they were getting ready to leave to get a bite to eat and a fireman looked past me and saw smoke coming from the west side of Pacific and 21st. They turned the truck around while the rest of the fireman ran to the alley. I waited for the truck to go by and as they did I saw smoke on 22nd I biked to the
alley and saw another fire, biked back to tell them the carport was on fire.

I went back to the building pounded on everyone’s door to get out. Thank God everyone woke up and got out safely. The firemen showed up and put it out before the whole building went up. I spoke to the arson guys and we all went looking for the
guy. Didn’t know what to look for but we would know him when we saw him. Don’t ask how but we knew.

Cops blocked off every street, fire trucks on every block, helicopters flying to search. Arson went north on Speedway I went north on Ocean front walk. Talked to a few transients. A guy on a bike went towards the beach and one went north. I followed the guy going north, the cops got the guy going west. When they caught up with him and question him he tried to blame the fires on some transient who was sleeping. I told them it wasn’t the guy sleeping that the one they had in custody is full of crap and something was very fishy.

I went back to see all the fires and make sure everyone was ok. Talking to the neighbors as it turns out the dirtbag they had was at every fire talking badly about the fire dept. He was coughing up information about all the fires near rose, and in Santa Monica. As it turns out he has filed a number of complaints against the fire department. Finding fault with everything they do. So it looks good that this white guy, 40ish, 5″10′, blond string hair, 160 lbs, all tweaked out on a bike, sorta like Iggy Pop. He talked to all the victims about all the fires as their properties burned, just may be the arson suspect. Everyone who spoke to him gave their
information to the arson investigator.

God I hope this is the suspect. When I went back to make sure everyone was ok or if anyone needed anything, I saw all the damage. It hit me like a lead balloon. I saw burned out garages, cars, carports, laundry rooms and the smell was horrendous. I watched a father holding his baby and neighbors with their pets and belongings. My
heart just sank. What could have happened I just didn’t want to think about it. I spoke to arson investigators one more time thanked all the firemen. There was 2 firefighters sitting on the ground at every scene to protect property waiting for investigators.

I got on my bike and slowly went home as to calm down. I have been doing neighborhood watch for almost 39 years. Going out hiding in bushes watching criminal commit crimes, but I have never ran from fire to fire.I am not really fearful of chasing criminals, but to witness all these fires did scare me.

I was disgusted to witness this sick mind trying to do so much destruction. One step behind him all night but it may be over. My heart goes out to all the fire victims. Stay safe and watch out for your neighbors. I want to thank all the fire
stations that were on the scene and LAPD for their response.

A total of 24,436 Golden State homes sold for a million dollars or more last year. That was down 42.5 percent from 42,506 in 2007. It was the lowest sales count since 20,595 were sold in 2003. In 2006 the $1 million-plus total was 50,010, in 2005 it was 54,773, and in 2004 it was 36,990, according to MDA DataQuick.

Of last year’s sub-$1 million sales, at least 2,052 homes had previously sold for more than a million. One in sixteen homes sold for a million dollars or more last year; the year before it was one in nine.

“Discretionary spending in the housing market has pretty much been on hold the past fifteen months. The core of last year’s distress was clearly in affordable areas that had a lot of turnover in 2005 and 2006. That distress could migrate up the price ladder if this recession proves nasty for high-income households,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president. “A lot of home sales in the upper half of the market have been on hold for months, waiting for financing.”

Chicago was second on the list, followed by the Riverside, Calif.; Phoenix, Detroit; Dallas; Tampa, Fla.; Philadelphia; San Diego, Calif.; and Boston metro areas.

Some of those metro areas have also been hot spots for foreclosure. RealtyTrac, a foreclosure data company, reported that the Riverside metro area had the third-highest rate of foreclosure-related filings in 2008 among metro areas it tracks nationwide, while the Phoenix area was fifth on the list and Detroit placed 10th.