The Concord Police Department, along with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (ConFire), are investigating a series of fires at Newhall Park in Concord.
Since September, nearly one dozen suspicious fires have been reported around the western edge of the park. At this time, investigators believe these fires were intentionally set.
The fires have been set at various times of the day with the majority being in the late night and early morning hours. The affected areas are the grassy fields to the south of Bel Air Drive and Melody Drive, which are directly adjacent to residential neighborhoods.
ConFire and Concord Police Investigators request anyone with information regarding these incidents to contact the Fire Protection District “tip line” at (866) 50-ARSON, the Concord Police Department Investigations Division at (925)-603-5834, or the Concord Police Department confidential “tip line” at (925)-603-5836.
If you see anything suspicious or see a fire, call 9-1-1.
photo: Claycord file photo
25 comments
Wow,how strange in that neighborhood!???
Homeless.
You can send the reward to my PayPal
The next fire in the middle of the night or early, early morning hours, look at the bystanders watching the firefighters put out the fire. Chances are the perp is among them.
It’s the homeless – and the open drug dealing and drug use. I hope the police can put a stop to this. There are a lot of houses in that area and, also, a senior assisted living facility.
About time someone figured out a who is really setting east bay fires. There should be a special circumstance for charge setting fires in this weather. Losers. Park Rangers due seem more proactive and alert than the cops.
And the Park Rangers should be. That’s there job, not the Police. You people expect the Police to do everyone’s job plus their own.
I don’t believe this warrants bashing law enforcement.
Thank you for admitting it is arson. That is the first step towards a solution.
Recall Newome is the second step. He refuses to do anything about thr vagrants, homeless, drug addicts. Probably because their pet advocacy group will sue.
I say, this group is endangering the citizens of CoCo county, actually the whole state. Start there then concider the antifa terrorist group, or gang crawlers.
It could be someone trying to burn the homeless out of Newhall Park. Ever think of that?
Probably connected with the homeless/rift rafters hanging out in the back side parking lot of CVS. That shopping center is half ghost town leaving a central spot for questionable activities in the neighborhood. Yelling, screaming, loittering and even cars doing doughnuts.
Bwahahahahahaha
@rift rafters? —. Before making an obnoxious, uncalled for, and snarky comment on a misspelling ….. perhaps consider that auto-correct probably changed ‘riff-raff’ to ‘rift rafters’.
Auto-correct?
Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Bwahahahahahahaha
@rift rafters? Oh Enlightened One, please continue to correct others’ spelling instead of contributing to the discussion. It’ll be much easier than trying to form a complete thought and express a logical opinion.
At long last the citizenry who pay taxes are speaking up. There have always been homeless for whatever the reason, but now days we ignore the root cause and keep throwing money at them. Does this change anything but make the honest tax paying citizens want to move out of California.
Newsome, who will you then repeatedly rape for hard $’s when all of us are gone? Will you and your cronies give up your salary to fund your pet projects.
It can’t be that difficult to find out who is setting these fires. If our houses burn down due to the lack of policing, then our insurance should not have to pay and our rates go up or worse our insurance be cancelled. Let Newsome and his gang provide us with reimbursement outside of insurance. Oh, excuse me, that will never happen.
It’s most likely not a homeless person just because there’s so many more people with homes than there are homeless, but it is probably someone living closer to the fringe than the norm. Person most likely doesn’t have a full time job, likely has a criminal record unless if they’re a minor, and is almost for sure someone who is not “winning” in life.
I use to hike regularly in Newhall park. But lately there has been a number of questionable men walking by me on the trail. And as a woman, it’s frightening, only because the questionable men are not dressed well and look weather beaten. Not on their way to a job or hiking.
So why is there any question as to who maybe setting these fires.
It’s the homeless who live up there. And there are lots of nooks and crannies where they can hide. I really hope Concord police step up their patrolling of that park. I have noticed a lot of people have stopped going to Newhall, probably because of the strangers who live there.
You got a carry some sabre gel or bear spray with you
Why would they burn down their home?
If you walk thru the park where the fires are being started you can easily tell who is starting them. Its the homeless that have camps setup and physically dug/built into the steep hills on the western side of park, just south of the creek. Ive been through the area a lot on walks and bike rides, and its so dirty with all the trash they leave behind also.
I wont call the tip line, here is your information, go find them, they are there everyday.
It takes a real loon to attribute everything to the same problem.
Like, this whole comment reads like an unhinged rant from a whack in his bathrobe and a tinfoil hat.
You spend all day, every day on here saying nutty garbage.
The problem is that in kinder, gentler Concord/Walnut Creek, the politicians really don’t want the problem handled…….and the treatment/housing programs don’t seem to be working. I used to give my homeless a choice…..a bus(BART) pass or a trip to the ER……always was very effective. Had to lecture two WCPD officers last week.
108RS
If it’s a serial arsonist then that some ONE is probably not homeless. It’s someone with a serious problem.
Not reported here, but in the past two weeks another serial arsonist was caught, his favorite target was Pleasant Hill Elementary. A crime of convenience and opportunity, this adult perpetrator was caught because of video footage taken by campus cameras.
This particular serial arsonist was not a homeless, alcoholic vagrant but a relatively “normal” person known to the community. You would not identify this person as a criminal or disturbed person if you met them “on the street”.
If it’s a homeless camp, then it’s the homeless. Any other fire, probably an arsonist with mental health issues. And probably not homeless. The homeless have enough problems already.
Curious to me that the mob is so quick to pin blame on the homeless. Not because I dispute that they are a plausible scapegoat, but because there is in my opinion a much more obvious villain to blame without any direct evidence. Tobacco smokers. Craven, despicable, nicotine addicts. They may or not be homeless. They may or not be young, old, rich,or poor. I care not about the socioeconomic status of cigarette smokers that throw their lit butts on the ground. We’ve all seen it our entire lives. I saw a lit cigarette thrown out the window in the predawn hours on Hwy 4 through Franklin Canyon just last week. Yep, right where there was just a fire. There’s always fires on that stretch, and I have never seen a single homeless camp on the side of the freeway there. Did anyone catch that Kincaid Fire new conference a couple weeks ago where a high ranking CHP officer said he was literally on his way to the news conference and he was delayed because he had to pull someone over for throwing a lit butt out?
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