SF Police Arrest Man for Arson After String of Playground Fires in Richmond

Amid active investigations into a series of suspicious fires that broke out in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond this month, San Francisco police arrested a man for alleged arson and drug possession on Monday.

Officers were patrolling the Richmond District around 1:30 a.m. Monday, when they spotted Joseph Martinez, 29, “igniting objects while walking in a park” near La Playa and Balboa streets, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Officers later discovered a larger fire, and the San Francisco Fire Department was called to extinguish the flames.

Martinez was arrested and charged with arson, possession of an incendiary device with the intent to set fire to a structure or forest land, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was booked into San Francisco County Jail.

Police have not confirmed whether Martinez is being investigated for multiple fires, which reportedly destroyed two playgrounds in the Outer Richmond. Instead, officials clarified that the investigations into the suspicious fires are still ongoing and encouraged members of the public to contact the department with any new information.

“SFPD is continuing to work with the San Francisco Fire Department in our joint Arson Task Force to investigate other recent suspicious fire cases in the area,” an SFPD spokesperson told KQED in a statement.

Firefighters were called to several suspicious fires this month — two at a local elementary school and two at a nearby park.

The first fire broke out on May 1, when firefighters responded around 1:30 a.m. to calls of a storage container burning outside Lafayette Elementary School. A shed containing thousands of dollars of school merchandise and event decorations was completely destroyed, according to the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

On May 10, another fire was reported at the playground at nearby Lincoln Park around 11 p.m. The blaze burned a hole through a slide but caused no further damage.

A few days later, on May 18, a second fire broke out at Lafayette Elementary School around 10:30 p.m. The school’s playground was completely decimated, leaving behind only rubble and twisted metal.

On May 21, firefighters responded to a final emergency call at Lincoln Park around 11 p.m., after a flare-up at the park’s play structure. According to Daniel Montes, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, the playground was entirely destroyed.