A man has been arrested and charged with setting fire to a huge fire that destroyed a Home Depot earlier this month in South San Jose, authorities said, as recently released records show the store was recently quoted by fire inspectors as not being provided evidence of its fire alarm and sprinkler systems were up to standard.
Details of the detainee, including his identity and motives for setting the store on fire, were not released immediately.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced a press conference Tuesday morning with San Jose Mayor Sam Licardo, the city’s fire and police services and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to discuss the arrest and other details of the fire investigation. .
Numerous law enforcement sources told the news organization that the arrest took place over the weekend, meaning the detainee could be brought to justice as early as Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities believe the arrested man set fire to the five-alarm fire that broke out on April 9 in the timber section of Home Depot on 920 Blossom Hill Road. No one died in the fire – which was so strong at its peak that its heat signal was detected in space by orbital meteorological satellites – although the residual effects left residents to protect themselves from harmful smoke for at least two days later.
SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA – APRIL 9: San Jose firefighters work on a fire outside the Home Depot near Blossom Hill Road in San Jose, California, on Saturday, April 9, 2022 (Shae Hammond / Bay Area News Group)
Meanwhile, records of inspections reveal that San Jose fire department officials have registered concerns about the building’s 98,000-square-foot fire alarm and sprinkler systems more than a year before the fire. Customers and employees who were at Home Depot when the fire broke out wondered why the store’s fire alarms were reportedly not turned on until almost everyone was outside the building, and whether the store’s sprinklers had ever been activated.
Records obtained from this news organization show that during an inspection on December 14, 2020, the San Jose Fire Prevention Bureau found violations at the Home Depot site due to the inability of managers to provide evidence that they perform annual inspections of its fire-fighting system and that they have similarly failed to show documentation that its sprinkler system has been serviced or inspected in the last five years.
It was not clear on Monday whether the violations had been rectified before April 9th.
The city’s fire code states that facilities such as the Home Depot must be inspected annually to ensure that sprinkler systems, water pipes and other fire protection systems are up to date.
A follow-up inspection of harmful substances on 5 October 2021 – the last time the site was inspected by security staff – revealed a separate breach of insufficient working space for electrical service equipment. This violation was eliminated less than a month later, according to the inspection report.
Dispatchers received a report of the fire around 5:30 p.m. on April 9, when they received numerous calls from employees and visitors about a fire at a commercial structure, according to fire officials. The Home Depot store, located in a mall opposite Westfield Oakridge Mall, caught fire in minutes, sending customers and employees to flee to save their lives.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the site and neighborhood behind the store in an attempt to prevent damage to nearby homes and businesses.
The intense heat that the flames emit – created by a mixture of wood, chemicals and dyed products inside – formed a massive jet of black and gray smoke and was so strong that it was discovered by orbital satellites. It took firefighters six hours to control the fire. Officials have not yet provided an estimate of the cost of demolishing the building and losing goods in the store.
The news of Monday’s arrest came more than a week after investigators began work to determine the cause of the fire. ATF agents arrived on the scene on April 13 to assist in the investigation.
This is not the first fire caused by an arsonist at Home Depot. In June 2017, a Canadian arsonist was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly using a lighter to cause a fire in the paint section of a Home Depot store.
In March 2018, a 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Home Depot store in Mesa, Arizona. And just two years ago, a Home Depot employee in Ohio was charged with intentionally setting fire to the store where he worked, according to reports.
Although some of the Home Depot in these cases suffered significant fire and water damage, it does not appear that any of them have been leveled in the same way as the San Jose store.
Check back later for updates on this story.
SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA – APRIL 9: San Jose firefighters work on a fire outside the Home Depot near Blossom Hill Road in San Jose, California, on Saturday, April 9, 2022 (Shae Hammond / Bay Area News Group)
Add Comment