Vehicle fire near YMCA in the Tenderloin deemed suspicious by fire department

San Francisco's TenderloinGabe Pierce/Unsplash

Shortly after 7 am on Memorial Day a tent fire was reported at Eddy Street and Leavenworth Street in the Tenderloin.

This address was later changed to Turk Street and Leavenworth Street, then Golden Gate Avenue and Leavenworth Street as the incidents of fires increased.

Police and firefighters arrived on scene to find a smoldering fire near an encampment.

No one was inside the tent when they arrived.

The fire was a small trash fire. At first, this appeared to be the only fire in the area.

Then, police received further reports of a vehicle fire nearby on Golden Gate Ave and Leavenworth St.

Firefighters received further reports that the car was potentially occupied.

At approximately 7:30 am, firefighters confirmed the car was not occupied—no one was inside the burning car.

According to Citizen and the San Francisco Fire Department, the Fire Captain has deemed this fire as suspicious. Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire at the scene.

At about 7:40 am, the fire was extinguished. Further details on the ongoing investigation are not yet available.

San Francisco’s Tenderloin is a high-crime neighborhood including drug use.

According to the Chronicle, The mother of a fentanyl-addicted son in the Tenderloin, Jacqui Berlinn, held her own press conference/protest on May 26 at Turk and Hyde streets, trying to call attention to the scourge of fentanyl on the city's streets. Berlinn was calling for more drug enforcement, saying that while the War on Drugs was a failure, "we have swung too far in the other direction." [Chronicle]

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