A Hollywood house fire that killed two sisters last week was arson, police said this week.
“Further investigation revealed that multiple additional fires were reported in close proximity during the same early morning time period, as well as a similar fire reported in the area in late January,” a Los Angeles police official said at a police commission meeting Tuesday, according to KABC.
On Feb. 4, a fire ignited around 3 a.m. on North Vista Del Mar Avenue and killed sisters Maria “Chelo” Vasquez, 76, and Yolanda Honda, 82, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
According to a GoFundMe created to raise expenses, Vasquez was recovering from emergency hip surgery and Honda had moved in to become her caretaker.
“In the early morning hours of the fire, as flames engulfed the home, Chelo was briefly seen on the porch,” according to the GoFundMe. “Her final words to a neighbor were a testament to her heart: ‘I need to go back and get my sister.’ Neither emerged from the house.”
Vasquez died at the scene and Honda died at the hospital after going into cardiac arrest, the site said.
The family said that Vasquez’s dog, Coco, went missing after the fire and still hasn’t been found.
