At least one home is destroyed and several others were damaged when a suspicious four-alarm fire broke out around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning in the Bayview. According to police, two women in the neighborhood spotted a man tossing a gas can under an SUV parked down the street from the fire at Bayshore Boulevard and Augusta Street. The suspect, a 61-year-old man, was detained by police for questioning and the charred house has been a well-known haven for squatters ever since it was damaged by another fire four years ago.
As one neighbor whose home was damaged this morning told KTVU: "There are squatters - all kinds of squatters come in and out in the middle of the night. Numerous people have already filed complaints with the city as well as with the police department. On Sunday, they arrested somebody on the block And then this happened.” According to KTVU's coverage this morning, the suspect had been living in the house as a squatter.
In total over 120 firefighters came out to the scene and the fire was under control just before 5 a.m. this morning. All told eight adults and two children were displaced by the damage. No injuries were reported.
