A man was arrested early Monday in the Richmond on suspicion of igniting a fire in a park, as officials investigate a string of playground blazes that have shocked the west-side neighborhood.
The San Francisco Police Department said Wednesday that plainclothes officers conducting patrols near La Playa and Balboa streets spotted the individual, later identified as 29-year-old Joseph Martinez, igniting objects while walking through the park around 1:30 a.m.
Officers later observed “a large active working fire,” police said. The San Francisco Fire Department extinguished the blaze. The streets where Martinez was observed are near the Balboa Natural Area.
Martinez was booked into San Francisco County Jail on charges that include arson, possession of an incendiary device with intent to set fire to a structure or forest land, and drug-related offenses, including possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
Martinez’s arrest comes as investigations continue into four suspicious playground fires in the neighborhood. Police have not connected Martinez to those blazes. No one was injured in the incidents, according to the Recreation and Parks Department.
“SFPD is aware of several recent suspicious fires in the Richmond district, and we are continuing to work with the San Francisco Fire Department in our joint Arson Task Force to investigate these cases,” the department said in a statement.
The pattern of fires has put residents on edge. Some circulated a petition urging that the Lincoln Park playground, which was razed May 21, be rebuilt and better protected. The petition has collected more than 300 signatures since launching Monday.
“This cherished neighborhood playground has been repeatedly subjected to vandalism, trash dumping, and — most disturbingly — two recent acts of arson,” the petition says. “It is no longer a safe space for our children.”
Emily Real, 36, regularly goes with her 3-year-old daughter to the park, which is a short walk from her house. The morning after the fire, she described the playground as “post-apocalyptic.”
“The plastic completely disintegrated,” Real said.”There is a crater in the middle of the ground.”