Nighttime fire at Sebastopol Post Office
The small fire in front of the post office may have been started inadvertently by someone who was living in the bushes
On Jan. 29, at approximately 9 pm, Sebastopol Police officers and the Sebastopol Fire Department were dispatched to a vegetation fire in front of the Sebastopol Post Office at 280 South Main Street.
According to the Sebastopol Police Department Facebook page, “After the flames were extinguished, it was found that the origin of the fire was a small makeshift encampment in the trees. Sebastopol Police officers canvassed the area and could not locate any suspects.”
Neighbors informed the police about a homeless individual who regularly hangs out in front of the post office (and has for months), but that person was not on the scene when police and fire officials arrived.
“I don’t know how much of an encampment it was,” said Sebastopol Division Chief Dave Bray of the Goldridge Fire Protection District. “But yeah, it looked like somebody had been hanging out back there at minimum. At this point, the cause is undetermined. You know, that kind of thing just doesn’t randomly start, but I don’t know that any of it was malicious.”
“The fire was actually very small, to be honest with you,” Bray said. “There was a phone-in report of a fire burning in the bushes out front of the post office, and we sent in support. When I got there, there were some personal contents that would fit in a Safeway shopping bag. Not a whole lot, and a little bit of debris from the trees and leaves and bark and such. But the fire was very small, very minor, and it didn’t impact the building whatsoever.”
Despite some reports on social media suggesting that it might be arson, Bray said, “I hesitate to say that. It’s undetermined—that will be the official report.”
If anyone has any information regarding this incident, please notify the Sebastopol Police Department at (707) 829-4400.
It's way too cold out there for the unhoused, homeless, sleeping - in - cars -and -bushes humanity among us to be surviving. In my opinion, the temperature dipping below 45 means making emergency heated sheltered sleeping places available to all who need them.
I was at the post office this morning wondering what happened. I did see a chair under the magnolia tree and lots of trash in the bushes. We need a winter shelter for folks.