I happened past the intersection of Stone Way and 39th just now in time to see the fire department wrapping up after putting out a fire at 3837 Stone Way. This building was the former home of Aqua Serene, a plant nursery and seller of hydroponic and other gardening supplies. Across the street from All the Best Pet Care, the building has sat unused for many years, and you may know it better as a place to buy a Christmas tree. Trees are sold, seasonally of course, in the former parking lot of the store.
A police officer was taking a statement from a woman at the scene although I couldn’t catch the details. He asked me if I had “seen who started it.” I told him no, but asked if it was arson. He said the fire department would have to determine that.
P.S. It looks as if the street will be open pretty soon — 5:30 to 6:00 at the latest.
I’ll take a wild guess and say this was vagrant caused, as most fires in abandoned buildings here are. That abandoned shop had someone camping on it’spl premises.
Furthermore, I saw on another page that an individual at the fire got “combative,” and SFD said it was his stuff that started the fire, although they don’t know if it was intentional. Supposedly the cops took him away.