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Juanita Avilez invited us into her home to see the damage today. She told Daniel Ortiz how she saved her home from being totally destroyed:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
From the street, this home in the Sunset Park Community looked normal and cozy. But, from the side, it's obvious that it was disturbed last night.

The louvers of this bedroom window were intentionally broken and removed, but there was no burglary. The homeowner says that someone tried to burn her house down.

Inside the bedroom, most of the contents showed signs of fire damage. The bed was the most damaged, so was the curtain which hung near the window.

Homeowner Juanita Avilez was to have gone out with her daughter and her grandchildren earlier that evening:

Voice of: Juanita Avilez - Fire Victim
"I was sitting down in the living room watching TV because I was watching the boat race. My daughter went to tow, she and her 3 kids went to a birthday get-together. And She said, Mom, are you going to town? I said I was not sure because I didn't feel to well."

Ultimately, the ailments of her age may have saved her home. She had an early evening, and she went to her bed. Her rest was short-lived, however, because she started hearing strange noises.

Voice of: Juanita Avilez - Fire Victim
"Five past 10, I locked the door, and I went to my bed. I remember that locked the screen door, and so, I got up and unlocked it, and locked back the main door because My daughter has a key. So, I thought that she would not have to call me because she has that key. And I went back to my bed. About 15 minutes after that, I heard a 'click click', but I thought it was them returning. So, I never did jump up right away because I know that they have a key. But, by the time I straighten up in my bed, I smelled smoke."

Avilez came out just in time to see that the entire backroom, where her daughter and her 3 grandchildren were staying, was engulfed in flames.

Voice of: Juanita Avilez - Fire Victim
"When I jump up out of my bed, it was right facing the ball of smoke that was coming out of my daughter's room. I couldn't even get inside. So, I ran back inside, and I turned of the circuit box. I came outside here because we have the pipe there for the machine. When I came out here, and looked through the window, the curtain was on fire, and the mattress. I shouted for my neighbor for him to help me throw water, and I loosened the hose off the machine, and I shoved the hose through the window to spray water in there. My neighbor came and he went around with the bucket. That's how we put it out."

Reporter
"Do you think that someone intentionally lit the curtain on fire and threw it on the bed?"

Voice of: Juanita Avilez - Fire Victim
"Yes because the curtain is plopped down behind the bed, so you would have to have to pull up the curtain, light it, and set it on the bed."

"I call the police. They came and said, yes, it's arson. So, I was waiting for those ones from forensics to come and check it for me, but they haven't reached yet."

This homeowner has no answers as to why anyone would want to harm her, her family, and her property.

Voice of: Juanita Avilez - Fire Victim
"I don't know why. I don't know for what, and that's my room belongs to my granddaughters."

Reporter
"Do you kind of enemies who would want to do you and your family harm - try to destroy your property - put it on fire like that?"

Voice of: Juanita Avilez - Fire Victim
"That's the question that I am worrying about right now. I don't have anything with anybody. I don't mess with people like that. I am just hi and bye with everybody."

"I hear about these things on the news. I never knew it would be right at my door. It's very disturbing for my condition because I have diabetes. I haven't slept yet, and I am nervous. I keep trembling. Every little sound, I have to come out and look."

As you heard in the story, the room that was destroyed belongs to her daughter and her 3 granddaughters. They had to attend work and school today in improper footwear and clothing because their belongings either got damaged due to the fire, or the were soaked by the water which was used to put the fire in the bedroom out.