Marc Valdez Weblog: Shit, Someone Has Set Fires All Over The Neighborhood

Thursday, August 06, 2026

Shit, Someone Has Set Fires All Over The Neighborhood

For clarification, this was Sacramento, CA, near 21st St. and 2nd Ave., on the evening of Monday August 3rd. The fire in the picture was about one block from my house. Fire department response was slow, due mostly to having to respond to simultaneous fires, but things seemed under control Monday night.

One fire was along the east sound wall along the railroad, with apparently some carryover over the wall into the Larkin St. cul-de-sac. Then there was a separate fire around 2027 Second Ave., and nearby there too, along Sloat Way cul-de-sac. I could see smoke from another fire in the distance that I thought was near Sloat Way and 24th Street, but when I went there about an hour later I couldn't find the fire's location. I'm still mystified by that one. Since my house backs out on Sloat Way I was really worried by these simultaneous fires.

Even the most urban parts of California are susceptible to quick moving fires (plus Monday was the hottest day of the summer so far).

I did not see any perpetrators, but it is unusual when about three fires are underway simultaneously several blocks apart to the west of me and smoke from another fire is visible several blocks away to the east. Sometimes that can happen when a much larger fire nearby drops burning debris over a wide area, but here there was no larger fire. It could partly be coincidence, of course; some mix of events. I jumped immediately to the thought of arson. I could be wrong, of course, but in the moment that is the more likely explanation.

According to rumor on Reddit, someone was apprehended.

And yet, because the fires were fairly-quickly put out, it's as if they never happened. The world spins on, until the next time this happens.