delane said the burglars came back and threatened him when her son confronted the man. >> one personhis hand in his pocket and my son was able to back his car out of the area. he shortly thereafter saw the police and they were able to -- and flagged them down and they were able to come and look for the people, but by then they were long gone. >> reporter: nothing left in the home. most items not damaged by the fire were stolen by thieves. >> this is just one of the times that they came in and went into our garage. so everything's been taken out of our garage. there's just nothing left here. >> reporter: the oakland police officers association president says officers feel extremely bad about the burglaries. they wish they could do more, but it's been challenging due to the staffing shortage. >> we didn't come till like eight hours later. another call we didn't come till three hours later. so i understand the frustration of our community member. it's very difficult for us to provide the needs of our community with the small number of officers that we have. >> reporter: delane says she

it's like they're kind of snatching your heart out all over again. >> reporter: delane says different people broke into the yellow-tagged house at least eight times to steal anything that was salvageable in november and december. she says they first broke the lockbox with keys inside meant for the contractors to gain entry. after that burglary contractors changed the locks. is that this is one of the ways the thieves came in, broke a window, crawled in, took a whole refrigerator, took it down the sleep and put it in a vehicle. >> reporter: one of her sons slept in a car in the driveway to prevent burglaries. the burglars threatened came when her son confronted the man. >> my son backed his car out of the area, shortly thereafter saw the police, flagged them down and they were able to come look for the people, but by then they were long gone. >> reporter: nothing left in the home, most items not damaged by the fire stolen by thieves. >> this is just one of the times they came in and went into our garage. so everything has been taken out of our garage. there's just nothing left here. >>