Arson in Gasparillo house fire

SEVEN months after people attempted to burn down the home of a Gasparillo family, yesterday the family’s neighbour’s home was set on fire and gutted. Both incidents are now being investigated by Gasparillo police.

In the first attack, police obtained CCTV footage which showed three masked men breaking into a house and then dousing it with a flammable liquid.

However, before they could set the house on fire, one of the family members inside woke up, spotted the men and began to shout at them.

They ran off.

However, in yesterday’s incident, the family’s neighbour Pradeep Singh, 37, was not so lucky as he awoke to the smell of smoke as his house was on fire.

According to a police report, at about 2 am, the fire started on the top floor of the house.

Singh later told police that he was awakened by a loud noise and then saw flames and thick black smoke.

“I really could not believe what was happening. At first, I thought I could have saved my house from burning down so I got a hose and began to spray water but the fire kept coming. I felt the heat on my skin. My two dogs were barking,” Singh said yesterday as he walked among the ruins of his home.

He said that residents rushed outside and also tried to extinguish the blaze.

“It was really too much. Everything inside the house started to explode. I had to run because the fire was spreading really fast. I called out to my dogs and we just ran.” Singh said he still can’t believe that he is now homeless.

“How can someone be so cruel? I have been lived here all my life. Now I have nowhere to go. I lost everything. I just purchased some new appliances and furniture and everything is gone. I don’t even know how to start over. And worse yet, if I had not woken up when I did, me and my dogs could have been killed,” he said.

Singh said he believes people are intent on burning down houses in the area for the land.

“This land belongs to my mother, and I have lived here all my life.” Police said no arrest has been made.