GUILTY CA - Harry Burkhart charged in Hollywood arson spree, 2011

The only similarity i can see so far is that the chosen areas are all areas that are big with the Entertainment Industry. It makes me wonder if he is a disgruntled film or tv employee. Someone who was rejected by the 'business.' West Hollywood, Hollywood and North Hollywood, all built upon the industry. imoo

That's a good point, and if that is the case, then I hope Burbank and Beverly Hills residents are on high alert. Those two areas are a likely target for someone who is trying to get back at the industry.
 
One more thought.

While we have had some severe Santa Ana events this year, we have had NO significant fires. None. Which is, honestly, surprising. I wonder if this arsonist is feeling..."unsatisfied" or something like that. It has also been really, really dry - I sparked Gracie's nose yesterday, and I've also had several bloody noses (which happen when it's this dry). So things are very flammable.

Not sure what I'm feeling about this, other than appalled and horrified. I mean, I'm not sure if I think they'll come closer, or not. Just not sure.

This sucks.

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Herding Cats
 
One more thought.

While we have had some severe Santa Ana events this year, we have had NO significant fires. None. Which is, honestly, surprising. I wonder if this arsonist is feeling..."unsatisfied" or something like that. It has also been really, really dry - I sparked Gracie's nose yesterday, and I've also had several bloody noses (which happen when it's this dry). So things are very flammable.

Not sure what I'm feeling about this, other than appalled and horrified. I mean, I'm not sure if I think they'll come closer, or not. Just not sure.

This sucks.

Best-
Herding Cats

Hang in there, Herding Cats! The people of LA are very strong and tough. We've lived through numerous serial killers, mudslides, riots, earthquakes and fires. Hopefully they'll catch this lunatic very soon.
 
The only similarity i can see so far is that the chosen areas are all areas that are big with the Entertainment Industry. It makes me wonder if he is a disgruntled film or tv employee. Someone who was rejected by the 'business.' West Hollywood, Hollywood and North Hollywood, all built upon the industry. imoo

NoHo isn't too involved in the industry...it's pretty residential, except in one or two areas, which have not been hit. It's pretty high mile/person ratio, and while there are indeed a few areas that are in "show biz", most of the places are homes, apartments/houses/condos, and ancillary stuff (markets, shops, schools, houses of worship).

I don't know much about WeHo, other than it's known to be "gay-friendly". I don't know if the other areas are similar (I don't think NoHo is particularly known for that). I don't think the connector is the industry or homosexuality, tbh...it's either something far easier (e.g. hopping off the freeway) or far more complicated (some pattern that hasn't been established yet).

Just my gut...I've been very wrong often, so don't take my word for it.

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Herding Cats
 
That's a good point, and if that is the case, then I hope Burbank and Beverly Hills residents are on high alert. Those two areas are a likely target for someone who is trying to get back at the industry.

If you look at the map you can see why, perhaps, they have not gone there,yet. It seems like they are staying in a tight geographical area and not crossing over highway 5 or 405. So Burbank has been safe so far.

I think Beverly Hills will remain safe because there are way too many surveillance cameras in that town. I think all of the Westside will be safe because of that.
 
NoHo isn't too involved in the industry...it's pretty residential, except in one or two areas, which have not been hit. It's pretty high mile/person ratio, and while there are indeed a few areas that are in "show biz", most of the places are homes, apartments/houses/condos, and ancillary stuff (markets, shops, schools, houses of worship).

I don't know much about WeHo, other than it's known to be "gay-friendly". I don't know if the other areas are similar (I don't think NoHo is particularly known for that). I don't think the connector is the industry or homosexuality, tbh...it's either something far easier (e.g. hopping off the freeway) or far more complicated (some pattern that hasn't been established yet).

Just my gut...I've been very wrong often, so don't take my word for it.

Best-
Herding Cats

NOHO is pretty involved in the *advertiser censored* industry. And there are a lot of technical support businesses all around NOHO. Like Sound studios and Film supply houses and that kind of thing. But I agree that it is not likely to be the trigger at all. He is probably just a crazy nutty arsonist who wants to stay close to home so he can smell the smoke from his back patio.:mad:
 
The arsonist likely has issues of rejection and feels rejected by society. He or she probably worked either in entertainment or fire fighter and somehow felt he was not treated well. He probably likes attention all the time and is doing it for it mixed with revenge.
 
Hang in there, Herding Cats! The people of LA are very strong and tough. We've lived through numerous serial killers, mudslides, riots, earthquakes and fires. Hopefully they'll catch this lunatic very soon.

My daughter was born just a couple of weeks after the riots of 92. I was so nervous during that time about not being able to get to the hospital on time. Seems like a million years ago now.

I live up at the Ventura County line now. We have had awful wildfires in the past few years. And then droughts, and then the floods. This is just one more thing trying to prevent us living in paradise. :rose:
 
NoHo isn't too involved in the industry...it's pretty residential, except in one or two areas, which have not been hit. It's pretty high mile/person ratio, and while there are indeed a few areas that are in "show biz", most of the places are homes, apartments/houses/condos, and ancillary stuff (markets, shops, schools, houses of worship).

I don't know much about WeHo, other than it's known to be "gay-friendly". I don't know if the other areas are similar (I don't think NoHo is particularly known for that). I don't think the connector is the industry or homosexuality, tbh...it's either something far easier (e.g. hopping off the freeway) or far more complicated (some pattern that hasn't been established yet).

Just my gut...I've been very wrong often, so don't take my word for it.

Best-
Herding Cats

Other than the fact that they both have "Hollywood" in their names, there really aren't any similarities between North and West Hollywood. They are connected by Laurel Canyon Boulevard, though, so it would be very, very easy for the arsonists to travel between the two areas. The Laurel Canyon fire is right in between the two areas. Laurel Canyon Blvd is a windy, mountainous road in the Hollywood Hills section. It's pretty flat on both sides of the hills. I used to work in the Valley, so I would travel this road daily for many years. I hated the part that went up into the hills because I would always, always lose cell phone reception.

I'm willing to bet that Laurel Canyon Blvd is the route that the arsonist is using. I doubt that they're using a bike, unless we're talking about two separate arsonists. Whether taking Laurel Canyon or some other route, a mountain is in between those two areas, and there's just no way around it (well, unless they swim, but then they'd still have to navigate over a mountain once they left the beach, and the ocean is about 10 miles or so away from West Hollywood and even further from NoHo :floorlaugh: ) Another possible route is Coldwater Canyon Boulevard or the Hollywood Fwy. Either way, there's a mountain to navigate.
 
Or...maybe it's possible that the arsonist lives up in the Laurel Canyon area. They would be able to see the smoke on both sides of their house. If I recall correctly, only one of the fires have occurred in that area. The rest have been on both sides of the hill.
 
Marie-Chantal, I'm thinking (like I said above) that the route is the Hollywood Freeway. Does go right through the majority of the fires, and connects with the others via the 5 (the loop from the Hollywood to the 5 is a quick, easy, generally wide open route except during rush hour).

I'm fairly sure that to be able to cover the distances the arsonist seems to be covering, he's using the freeways...and while Laurel is a good bet (and I need to double check the map for it's ending point in the SFV), I'm thinking that the use of the freeways puts him in close proximity to all fires, with on/off ramps relatively close for ease of access/get away.

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Herding Cats

ETA: the smoke from the fires wouldn't be 'smell-able', I don't think, from one area to the other area. And it's far too far to see the fires, even at night...too 'small' for that.
 
Or...maybe it's possible that the arsonist lives up in the Laurel Canyon area. They would be able to see the smoke on both sides of their house. If I recall correctly, only one of the fires have occurred in that area. The rest have been on both sides of the hill.

If he is driving a Lexus then maybe he does live up on Laurel Canyon. It seems odd that he would set a fire anywhere near there if he lived on that road though. People are so paranoid about fire up there because it is so heavily wooded and so much brush, and you only have one point of exit, and that is Laurel canyon itself. All of those back roads lead back to Laurel Canyon Blvd.

I think he just drives that road a lot, like many of us have for years. It is a major artery between those towns. But like you said, there was only that one fire up there, so maybe he had a beef with those people. I don't know.
 
Marie-Chantal, I'm thinking (like I said above) that the route is the Hollywood Freeway. Does go right through the majority of the fires, and connects with the others via the 5 (the loop from the Hollywood to the 5 is a quick, easy, generally wide open route except during rush hour).

I'm fairly sure that to be able to cover the distances the arsonist seems to be covering, he's using the freeways...and while Laurel is a good bet (and I need to double check the map for it's ending point in the SFV), I'm thinking that the use of the freeways puts him in close proximity to all fires, with on/off ramps relatively close for ease of access/get away.

Best-
Herding Cats

ETA: the smoke from the fires wouldn't be 'smell-able', I don't think, from one area to the other area. And it's far too far to see the fires, even at night...too 'small' for that.

I agree about the 5. It seems to be adjacent to everything. And it is so crowded all of the time that anyone would just blend in to traffic. I wonder if there are any of those red light traffic cams at any of the big intersections around there anymore?
 
Color coded by date map of suspected fires...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-west-hollywood-fires-20111230-i,0,4242657.htmlstory

And I'm thinking the closest one to my house would be about 1 mile. It will be interesting to see what tonight brings...especially considering tomorrow is a holiday for most folks...

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Herding Cats

WOW. there is one thing that is really interesting on that color coded map. Click on it and notice there is ONE point of the map that has a fire that was set on all 3 days. Only one tiny point that had an intersection of the 3 days.

ETA2; THE TARGET AREA SEEMS TO BE HOLLYWOOD BLVD BETWEEN LA BREA AND HIGHLAND

It was the area of Sycamore and Citrus, near Fountain. Now I understand why my friend who lives right off Fountain had such a large turnout in the neighborhood watch. That makes me think that this is the original target area. It is the only area that he set on fire ALL three nights. Hmmmmm

ETA
1336 N Citrus Ave.= Thursday


1769 N Orange Drive=Friday

1680 N Sycamore Ave=Saturday[Los Angeles Recording Studios & Mix StudiosJ E Sound Productions is located at 1680 N Sycamore Ave Los Angeles,
 
I agree about the 5. It seems to be adjacent to everything. And it is so crowded all of the time that anyone would just blend in to traffic. I wonder if there are any of those red light traffic cams at any of the big intersections around there anymore?

When I lived in West Hollywood, there was a traffic cam at the intersection of Fountain and Crescent Heights (which is what Laurel Canyon Blvd becomes south of Sunset). There were other traffic cameras in West Hollywood at other intersections, but I can't think of which ones off the top of my head. I definitely remember the one at Fountain and Crescent Heights because it was near my house.

Another thing that is unique to WeHo is the vigilant parking police (or parking Nazis, as I used to call them). Many of the streets in WeHo require parking permits for anyone who parks on the street, whether they live there or are just visiting for 5 mins. I used to have two extra permits, and I would run them down to my friends whenever they pulled up outside my apartment building. One of the fires was on Sweetzer, just around the block from my old place. They definitely require permits on that street. In fact, the closer you get to Sunset Blvd in WeHo, the greater the likelihood that you'll need a permit to park on the street for even 5 mins. If I were the investigators, I'd look closely at anyone who got parking tickets on the same night as the fires in WeHo.
 
Sycamore and Citrus are just outside of WeHo's city limits, and I don't think a parking permit is required for that neighborhood. There are several city-owned parking garages indicated on that map that I linked in my previous posts. I hope those garages have cameras. It is possible that the arsonist parked in one of those garages.
 
Sycamore and Citrus are just outside of WeHo's city limits, and I don't think a parking permit is required for that neighborhood. There are several city-owned parking garages indicated on that map that I linked in my previous posts. I hope those garages have cameras. It is possible that the arsonist parked in one of those garages.

He also might live in that area. It is the only area that he hit on each of the nights. He may even have a permit to park in some of the areas he lit up.
 

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