Roseville Fire Near Maidu Park Considered Suspicious
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — A 30-acre fire damaged four homes and a gazebo at Maidu Park in Roseville on Friday.
Embers from the grass fire that started before 3 p.m. spread to a handful of homes near Bremerton Court and McLaren Drive.
Firefighters say the winds and heavy, dry brush helped the fire grow quickly. More than 180 firefighters arrived at the fire and 256 homeowners were told to either shelter in place or evacuate their homes.
Investigators are still trying to piece together how this started. When the initial reports came in, someone saw children racing away from Maidu Park, but those children haven't been found.
"It looks suspicious," said Roseville Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Carman. "There's nothing accidental at this point, I think. We had children running from the area. They didn't tell us how the fire started, so I would assume it's suspicious."
At this point, no one is in custody. Police would like to talk to those kids or anyone who was in the park at the time.
There were no injuries from the fire.
David Ybarreta's house sits right across from Maidu Park, and he saw and felt the heat from the flames that destroyed his pool equipment and fence.
"It didn't take more than a minute and a half, and these trees went up," he said.
That's when he noticed embers from the flames hitting his roof.
"Every ember that went on that roof, I got," he said. "That's what saved the house."
