Mid-City Artist's Studio Intentionally Torched: Investigators

An artist’s studio was set on fire early Monday, threatening an attached home in the Mid-City area, officials said.

Just after 4 a.m., a neighbor said she awoke to the sound of crackling flames and saw fire shooting out of the home on 36th Street near Orange Avenue.

The garage had been converted into an artist's studio where the resident used a blow torch to make glass, officials said.

Despite the intense heat and flames Taci Herrera managed to get her son and an elderly woman in her care to safety.

β€œIt was so hot, I barely even got to my car to get it out of the way,” she told NBC 7 News.

San Diego police were called to the home a few weeks ago according to San Diego-Fire Rescue spokesperson Maurice Luque.

There was a fire in the backyard a month ago that a neighbor helped extinguish. That fire was not considered suspicious, Luque said.

While neighbors claimed the resident used the blow torch to make glass bongs, officials did not find drug paraphernalia on the property, Luque said.

No one was inside the studio at the time. No one was injured.

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