“I was furious”: Sacramento neighbors say emergency crews ignore homeless fires over legality confusion

SACRAMENTO – A singed sidewalk, blackened tree trunk and all the opposite charred particles in Sacramento’s Alkali Flat neighborhood have Francine Jackson anxious and fueled by the fireplace.

“It’s very dangerous, of course. And I mean, I live in a wooden house,” she stated.

When she noticed the flames throughout the road, she referred to as 911. But when firefighters arrived, she by no means anticipated them to do what they did.

“They didn’t stop. They didn’t get out of their vehicle. They just drove around the corner and they were gone,” Jackson stated. “Oh, I was angry at that moment.”

That’s when Jackson stated two law enforcement officials confirmed up telling her the sidewalk fireplace was completely authorized and to take it up with the town council if she had any issues. So she did, attending the following metropolis council assembly on Tuesday night time.

“It’s not legal to have a fire on the sidewalk, and whoever said that,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg stated on the assembly. Jackson informed him he had heard this from a number of law enforcement officials. “Well that needs to be corrected,” Steinberg stated.

“If the people charged with upholding the law say there’s nothing we can do about it, then what are we supposed to do as citizens to protect our property?” stated Ian McWherter.

McWherter confirmed CBS13 cellphone video of the fires he’d seen and acquired the identical reply: they’re authorized.

CBS13 reached out to metropolis and fireplace officers for solutions. City leaders wouldn’t touch upon digital camera, directing CBS13 to their steadily requested questions on homelessness, which say “sidewalk fires are prohibited” if in a reckless method, however that the division of The Sacramento Fire Department is one of the best choose of security.

Meanwhile, the Sacramento Fire Department wrote to CBS13, “It is up to the responding company officer to determine if a fire needs to be extinguished or is being extinguished safely and according to city ordinance.”

“An uncontrolled fire on the sidewalk, it’s just not a good idea,” Jackson stated.

Jackson definitely sparked a dialog on the metropolis council assembly. The metropolis supervisor’s workplace is now planning a gathering with police and firefighters to make clear what’s and is not authorized relating to homeless fires. They plan to place it in a memo to the general public and metropolis leaders citing transparency.