Woman Accused Of Buying Fire Insurance, Torching Apartment Where She Faced Eviction

A woman was arrested Tuesday in a suspected arson fire where two elderly residents had to be rescued from an apartment building outside Santa Cruz, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.

Annette Carranza, 34, was arrested and booked into the county jail on suspicion of aggravated arson following an investigation into the Sept. 29 fire at the building at 1360 30th Avenue in the unincorporated county area of Live Oak, deputies reported.

The probe into the fire by sheriff’s detectives and the Central Fire Protection District in Santa Cruz determined that Carranza purchased fire insurance prior to the blaze and solicited an acquaintance to set the fire in exchange for cash from a settlement, deputies said.

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At 4:15 a.m. on Sept. 29, deputies and firefighters were dispatched to the burning building, where two elderly residents were trapped on the second floor, sheriff’s Sgt. Kelly Kent reported.

Fire crews used a ladder to extend to the pair and firefighters brought them down to safety, Kent said. The flames spread to five neighboring units and rendered the building uninhabitable, displacing 11 tenants, according to Kent.

One firefighter was treated at the scene for minor injures, deputies said.

The fire started inside Carranza’s apartment, which she shared with her three young children and two other adults, Kent said,

She explained that the blaze started accidentally after she lit a candle and fell asleep, but the investigation revealed that she bought fire insurance for her apartment a day after sheriff’s deputies served her with an eviction notice.

The suspect then tried to convince her acquaintance to set the fire in exchange for cash, but deputies alleged that she started the fire, according to Kent.

--Bay City News