Historic African American Firefighter Museum in South LA vandalized

The historic African American Firefighter Museum in South Los Angeles is cleaning up the debris from yet another break-in, just one year after an arson damaged part of the building. 

"We thought we were safe," retired fire captain Andrew Evans said. "We were wrong because they continue to do that."

The damage from the repeated break-ins is hard to miss, with shattered glass on the ground, windows boarded up with plywood, and doors smashed in. 

"In my opinion, since the arson fire, we've been targeted harder and harder," Evans said. "This right here tells me a big story on how people will stoop to any level to destroy things."

Evans said a bronze bust of the museum's founder, made by a famous sculptor, is gone.

"This was a bust of Arnett Hartsfield, founding father of this museum and LA stentorian," he said. "They totally smashed it up, and as you can see, there's no bust. They took the head."

Evans said they have no leads on who has been vandalizing their museum. He added that they are working with the city to find ways to secure the building without compromising its history, such as better alarms and even a security guard, but money is tight for the nonprofit.

"We can not do our main goal, which is to continue to fix the building, which is open, and start business as usual," Evans said. 

The museum relies on donations and asked for financial help for the repairs.