The press release from the Eureka Fire Department is pretty dry: Yesterday afternoon, it says, the EFD and Humboldt Number One Fire District responded to a structure fire on the 1100 block of J Street. They found one fire burning in the kitchen of the house and another in an upstairs bedroom. Both were quickly extinguished, and no one was hurt.
The only hint of intrigue comes in the last sentence: “The cause and circumstances of the fire remain under investigation, though it does not appear to be accidental in nature.”
As you might expect, the neighbors have the juicy scuttlebutt.
In an e-mail chain forwarded to the Journal, nearby residents say the dude who lives there apparently set the fires himself — and this wasn’t the first time. Last week, they say, he set his garage on fire. And the day before that he’d been arrested for “dancing naked on his car in the front yard.” He was found similarly sans attire yesterday, they say.
A call to EFD’s Assistant Fire Chief Bill Gillespie confirmed many of these particulars. Sure enough, he said, there was a fire at the same location last week. And yesterday, the unidentified man was found starkers. Firefighters wrapped him up in a blanket and took him into custody, Gillespie said, though he couldn’t reveal the man’s identity or current location except to say he’s not at the house tonight, so neighbors can rest easy for now.
The downstairs fire was evidently started on a wooden chair, and the upstairs fire was set on a mattress and bedding, Gillespie said. “We didn’t see a lot of reason why those started where they did,” the chief deadpanned. Until the investigation concludes, though, he can’t go so far as to deem it arson.
This article appears in Family on the Corner.
It’s more than juicy scuttlebutt guys. This is my neighborhood and was a little close for comfort. When his garage burned, the flames shot up above the roof our OUR two-story garage across the alley and only the feral blackberries growing up the back of our garage kept it from being scorched. In a neighborhood built of old-growth when it was still young…it has us all nervously watching for a naked guy with a lighter. Nuts are one thing (pun unintended) but nuts with matches is scary!
I live about three blocks away and I saw the flames-this guy is past the line of scary crazy-this would qualify as dangerous crazy- what if there had been a propane tank or a few gas cans strewn about? The kids from EHS walk this route to and from school Come on epd–quit bugging the stoners and take care of a serious threat!!!
cold and rain accounts for shrinkage of naked guy… not!
The other part of the rumor is the dude just got dumped and is on a bender! I saw the guy after the second fire. The dude walked down the back alley naked before coming up the street when the firemen had to bring him clothes from his house. I heard he was caught jacking off during the first fire he set.
Neighbors have been saying he was talking about setting fire to the house then a couple of says later the garage was in flames. This is freaky!
The Sub had photos of both fires, and in the second one they had the dude in the photo wearing a sheet or something, meaning this ain’t a bunch of rumor. Unless something or someone intervenes with this guy bad things will happen. Nothing good comes of meth, and here is prime evidence.