Fire Abruptly Wakes San Pedro Neighborhood on Eve of Halloween

Story by Baraka Noel 
Photos by Jacqueline Richard 
Bobbi Drlicka witnessed from across the street. “By the time I heard it, I thought someone was in my home banging on my door.” The sound was so loud, she explained. 

“Then I looked out my window and see the flames go past it” along with “three pops. Really loud pops. The flames were so high, I looked out my window – I thought this corner house was on fire.” 

This morning, Oct. 30, on 14th Street between Mesa and Pacific Avenue, numerous emergency vehicles and first responders cordoned off the block. Chemical smoke filled the air. Dozens of neighbors gathered on the street. 

Sheila Burke was distraught.

“I just had my 66th birthday. I’m too old for this,” she said. “It’s a world I don’t know anymore.” 

She continued, from a stoop across from her smoldering home. 

“I live there. I’m the owner,” she said. 

Water flowed heavily along the gutter from hoses reckoning with the sudden blaze.

“My purse is still in there. I have no ID.  I can’t move my car. I hope they don’t ticket me.” 

Still in shock, as the sun rose Burke speculated that she could “stay at my friend’s, if she’ll let me. I don’t have anywhere to go.” 

As to the origins of the fire, she said it started in the backyard. 

“We were sleeping in the house, which is “not up to code,” she said. “They don’t make houses like this anymore. You can’t even buy the taps for them.” 

Her son, Vince Roche, stood by. 

The fire department are still investigating the causes of the fire.