Forum to address anxiety over Russian River-area fires
An unusual spate of fires in Guerneville and the Russian River area, including two cases of possible arson that gutted an old inn and a popular health clinic, continues to fuel frustrations among some residents and merchants about the highly visible transient population that loiters and camps in the area.
Homelessness and public safety lead the agenda of a Monday night community meeting called by the Russian River Chamber of Commerce and Supervisor Efren Carrillo to address concerns that flared after the troubling series of fires - seven in 20 days. Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas and District Attorney Jill Ravitch are among officials scheduled to speak.
Chamber President Debra Johnson said she and others have been inundated by calls from worried residents. Many are placing blame on the homeless population, despite a lack of evidence as to what or who caused the fires that destroyed the Russian River Health Center and the shuttered New Dynamic Inn, which was undergoing renovations to provide housing for homeless veterans.
“What broke the camel’s back is the health center, which was such a hub in our community,” said Johnson, who is a longtime member of the clinic’s board. “That threw us into chaos. Now our homeless folks are taking the brunt of it when they’re not responsible for it.”
An infusion of new business and entrepreneurship over the past several years has filled vacant storefronts and brought new life to the river community of just over 1,000 whose economy largely relies on tourism. But that energy has come head to head with a visible and entrenched homeless population that also calls the area home. Residents describe blatant public drug deals downtown and trash from illegal encampments polluting the river waters.
Fire investigators have dug through the charred rubble of seven destroyed or damaged structures in Guerneville and the Russian River area since Dec. 17. Four were caused by faulty heaters or other accidental sources. Three are considered suspicious.
No suspects
Officials have not identified suspects in any of those three fires and they have found no clear evidence yet for how the fires started at all, Russian River Fire Protection District Chief Max Ming said.
“We haven’t found any evidence to indicate that members of the homeless population started these fires,” Ming said.
The Dec. 20 fire that engulfed the New Dynamic Inn is the clearest case of arson so far. Four fires were lit in different areas of the inn: Two fires were ignited in one room, a third fire started in another room 50 feet away and one fire was lit outside, fire officials said.
Ming said investigators have not identified an ignition source.
Investigators said that someone started the fire that destroyed the community’s health center on Dec. 26. The fire started in an unlocked exterior utility closet, but investigators do not yet know how it began, Ming said.
“We ruled out all obvious reasons,” Ming said. “We found no sign of a warming fire, no sign of accelerants, no electrical problem.”
Fire investigator Capt. Rob Cassidy told The Press Democrat in December the health center blaze was intentionally set and not a fire someone set to keep warm. Ming said he wasn’t comfortable using the term arson because although it was clearly set by a person he said they haven’t absolutely ruled out an accidental cause.
“We’ve got to go through a long checklist and rule things out,” Ming said. “They feel that it was ?human-caused, but that can be one of two things, intentional or unintentional. Our difficulty is we haven’t been able to prove intentional.”
Suspicious blaze
Ming said investigators still consider a Dec. 27 residential fire on Morningside Drive suspicious. A neighbor who reported the fire told officials he heard two people talking before he saw flames. But Ming said firefighters also are considering a space heater near where the fire appeared to have started as a possible cause.
Two fires lit at Russian River churches earlier in the year also still are considered suspicious, including a Nov. 12 blaze at old St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Monte Rio. They are under investigation by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
Ming said the totality of those fires led him to call the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the state fire marshal’s office. Two federal agents have lent assistance to local investigators, including members of a Sonoma County fire investigation task force.
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Sgt. Cecile Focha cautioned the public against making assumptions about what caused the fires while the investigation is ongoing. In order for investigators to determine a fire was arson, they must “prove intent, that it was malicious, and that is the big challenge” the sergeant said.
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