Gilroy police and fire units responded to a fire at El Portal
School, the seventh suspicious fire set in four months.
Gilroy police and fire units responded to a fire at El Portal School, the seventh suspicious fire set in four months.
The fire claimed no injuries and little damage but added yet another suspicious blaze to a growing list of arsons that have developed over the past few months. El Portal makes seven suspicious fires set since October, and the second set to a Gilroy school.
By the time police and fire responded to the report of smoke and a fire alarm at 6:13 p.m. Sunday evening, the fire had already been extinguished by a citizen who doused the flames with two buckets of water. The small fire originated from a piece of plywood that had been covering a broken window.
All the fires in the past few months took place in the evening or early morning hours in south Gilroy, save El Portal, which is located near the intersection of Monterey and First streets in north Gilroy. Police are offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anybody involved in the string of arsons. As of now, two arrests have been made in connection with the fire that was set at the Budget Car Rental facility on E. 10th Street back in October. Last month, Robert Cuevas, 32, and Joseph Uvalles, 21, were arrested after the Santa Clara County Crime Lab confirmed that evidence collected at the scene of the fire linked the men to the crime, police said.
However, police have not made any arrests in connection with the other six fires, including El Portal, Sgt. Jim Gillio said. When a suspicious fire is set, police and fire officials determine the fire’s origin, interview witnesses and victims and further collect evidence that might point to a suspect, he said. Aside from the Budget fire, the remaining six fires are still unsolved and under investigation, he said.
This many fires in such a short time span is “not typical, not at all,” Gillio said. He added that the amount has “absolutely created a heightened awareness with police and the fire department,” and he hopes it will do the same for the public, encouraging them to remain vigilant in helping prevent future fires.
Although investigators have not determined if the fires are related, they have their suspicions.
“There may be a relationship,” Fire Chief Dale Foster said just after three fires were set in one night at Bay Sheets – a corrugated paper plant, Gilroy Ford Lincoln Mercury and Gilroy Sports Park. “This sequence of this many, it’s just making us really wonder.”
The frequency and proximity of the incidents is rare in recent Gilroy history, said Foster, who has been chief for three years.
“This is the first time (this has happened) since I’ve been here,” he said.
The fires have claimed millions of dollars in damage, including $2 million worth of destruction to Bay Sheets, a corrugated paper plant, when several rows of 5-foot-tall commercial-grade rolls of paper burned. The other fires claimed less in damages but more in the way of hardship in the case of Gateway School, which lost four classrooms to fire just after the new year. As a result, its students were scattered about South County in order to receive the attention they require. Gateway serves students with special needs and learning disabilities, many of whom have trouble adjusting to new and unexpected situations, like their displacement after the fire.
In an effort to restore morale in the wake of the fire, the Gilroy Fire Department will hold a flag raising ceremony today at 10 a.m. at Gateway. Their flag burned in the fire and the flag raising will signify unity and renewal, administrators said.
Recent arson investigations
El Portal School
240 Swanston Lane, 6:13 p.m. Feb. 24
Gateway School
7151 Hanna St., 10:18 p.m. Jan. 3
Bay Sheets
6791 Alexander St., 2:05 a.m. Dec. 1
Gilroy Ford Lincoln Mercury
6290 Monterey St., 3:38 a.m. Dec. 1
Gilroy Sports Park
5925 Monterey Road, 6:30 a.m. Dec. 1
South County Housing’s Cannery development
251 Lewis St., 5:08 p.m. Nov. 23
Budget Car Rental
505 E. 10th St., 4:34 p.m. Oct. 16
