SF Elementary School Community Rebuilds Playground Lost to Suspicious Fire

Months after the playground at San Francisco’s Lafayette Elementary School was destroyed in a suspicious fire, students, parents and teachers gathered Wednesday morning to celebrate the unveiling of a replacement.

The school’s original playground was destroyed by a May 18 fire, which was the second to break out at the school that month and the third in a string of fires in the Outer Richmond that left residents on edge.

The first happened on May 1 outside the elementary school, when a storage container filled with PTA supplies was found on fire.

On May 10, a fire burned a small hole through one of the slides at nearby Lincoln Park. Just over a week later, the second Lafayette Elementary fire broke out on the school playground, leaving behind only rubble and ash.

The San Francisco Police Department arrested a suspect in relation to the fires on May 26, but it said in a press release two days later that the investigation remains active and open. SFPD did not immediately respond to a request for an update on the investigation on Wednesday.

Trip Seibold, a father of two students at the school, found out about the fire when he dropped his kids off at school that morning.

 “How could this happen? Why did this happen? That’s what all the students and parents in the community were feeling,” he said

While the school staff did a great job of ensuring that the kids could engage in other activities the past few months, he said, his kids are excited to have their old playground back. But he’s concerned that the arson case is unresolved.

Parents and school officials had a meeting on Monday morning where questions regarding the investigation went unanswered, Seibold said.

“I think more transparency about what is the current state of the investigation being shared with the community at large, that’s really all I think what most parents want,” he said.

San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su said the destruction of the playground was traumatic for the school community.

“It was very painful to see the ashes and to see the play yard in shambles,” she said. “It was melted down, it was dark. There was soot and dirt everywhere, and it really hurt.”

The playground was rebuilt four months after it was destroyed.

Parents and volunteers helped clean up what was left by the fire. Afterward, they decorated the playground’s fence.

“We as a community came together over the last three months to rally all our officials, state leaders, local leaders, to fast-track this project for our students,” Su said.