San Diego : Fire Blamed on Homeless Man
A homeless man who tried to burn out the bugs in his outdoor sleeping area accidentally set a mattress warehouse on fire Wednesday night, causing $260,000 in damage, fire officials said.
The man had been staying in a parking lot at 25th and Commercial streets and wanted to rid his sleeping area of bugs. He set the area on fire about 6:30 p.m., Fire Department spokesman Tom Morris said.
The heat outside the warehouse set the mattresses on fire on the other side of the wall.
It took 90 firefighters about 2 1/2 hours to control the three-alarm blaze, and one firefighter injured her finger handling sheet metal, Morris said.
Trolley service was shut down for several hours as firefighters doused neighboring buildings to keep the blaze from spreading.
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