This past Saturday, a massive fire closed the I-10 Freeway in Downtown Los Angeles and while there has been much talk surrounding the survival of the freeway, and whether or not it would have to be completely repaired, others who were directly impacted by the fire are trying to figure out what to do next.
Governor Gavin Newsom said, in a press conference on Monday, that authorities have determined the fire to have been intentionally set in an act of arson. Although they do not have leads on who could have started the fire, they know it was set within the fence line of the storage business located underneath the freeway.
The business located under the freeway was a place where many L.A. residents stored their vehicles and work equipment. Many of the items that burned during the fire were entire vehicles, and among them were street vendor carts from six vendors.
A video circulating online showed what remained of the once vibrant fruit carts, now sitting burned down next to one another, with a small fire in the back still visible. One of the vendor's family members posted the video on TikTok.
Since then, the vendors have created a GoFundMe in hopes of raising enough money to be able to buy new carts. For many of them, the fire destroyed their means of working, seeing as they are full-time street vendors who rely on their carts to make a living.