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24 arson fires set in Pismo Beach

December 30, 2011

Two alleged arsonists were arrested in Pismo Beach on Thursday for setting 24 small fires. [KSBY]

The pair allegedly ignited the fires in woodland areas north of Oak Park Boulevard and east of James Way around 4 p.m.

Firefighters from CAL FIRE and the Five Cities Fire Department extinguished the flames while San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputies and Arroyo Grande police officers searched for the culprits.

Because the investigation is ongoing, further information is being withheld at this time.


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They’re not “kids”, they’re young adults and should be tried as such.


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This story sounds half baked to me. 24 fires all started by these two kids is quite a leap and if it’s true that one of the kids was actually in a doctor’s office when the fire they say he started occurred, well then shame on the PD. It’s easy to pick on kids.


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Fires don’t start on their own. Based on comments below, they may have been lighting pompas grass and throwing it. Maybe the 24 fires were 24 pompas grass plants that Cal Fire found were burnt. Google pompas grass fires and you’ll see how out of control they can be. Fires have destroyed homes and lives that weren’t set by arsonists . One of more of these kids were playing with fire which is unacceptable.


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Of course fires don’t’ start themselves, sometimes lightening starts fires but I guess that wouldn’t be considered a fire starting it’s self.


Whoever started the fires should be held accountable. But the PD needs to make sure that they have the right people and we need to make sure that they aren’t exaggerating regarding how many fires were set. I’m starting to believe that this 24 number is bogus. But I do agree that whoever set the fires/fire needs to be held accountable. We also need to realize that this wasn’t done by some weird pyromaniac arsonist that gets off on starting fires. It was done by some kids messing around not understanding the gravity of what they did. Yes they need to be taught a lesson but lets not burn them (no pun intended) at the stake.


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I agree that this sounds exaggerated. I don’t recall hearing about any of these fires and then suddenly we hear there have been 24 of them! Did it all occur at the same time? Did they find that 24 plants had been burned and call it 24 separate “arson” fires. I think we definitely need more facts. There is nothing more sickening than LEO sensationalizing crime and trumping up charges. Like i said, in this instance, I’d like to hear more detail about these 24 ARSON FIRES. Sounds like dumb kids lighting nasty plants on fire to me without realizing that it could have got out of control, which it didn’t.


I agree they should know better and I would be very angry if someone had been playing with fire in my back yard, we’re all concerned about what can happen but lets not turn it into something that it isn’t.


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They’re just misunderstood kids, the only reason they did it is, as everyone knows, there just isn’t anything for kids to do in this area.


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They SHOULD be fired!


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And here is the little angel:


https://www.facebook.com/dominic.wefald


His mama should be so proud :/


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I don’t know the boys very well that were involved in this but they’ve been to my home and my kids know them very well. According to the kids these two weren’t the ones involved but they are getting the blame for others that actually did it. Then again who knows, perhaps they’re just trying to save themselves but a lot of kids hang out there (kids=16-18 in this case).


I’m personally pretty shocked. Both of these kids seem like good guys. The minor drives around in his little VW bug, always with his dog in the passenger seat, nice funny boy. The adult boy recently turned 18, he’s a nice kid as well and lives very close to where the fires were set. If you look at that Facebook page it’s not full of the cr@p that so many other kids have on their FB. He listens to classic rock, that’s rare. I feel bad, I hate to see good kids do stupid things. There’s a hang out spot where the kids ride their bikes, play hacky sack and skate board, it’s called ‘the frying pan’, pretty sure that’s where this all happened.


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Come on baby light my fire…..


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Someone wrote in to the Tribune blog and said that the kid named (not the juvenile) was at the doctor’s office at the time the fire occurred and can verify it.


Sounds like they picked up the wrong kids.


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I would like to think that both of these boys are innocent. They are really nice boys. Every time I see the minor driving with that dog in his passenger seat I just get a big smile. That boy loves his dog and takes it everywhere with him. The older one is very respectful and seems like a nice boy. I believe that it could be a case of the cops having the wrong kids. A lot of kids hang out at that area known as the frying pan, it could have been other kids,,,they all look alike :)


I am so hoping this is a case of mistaken identity and that he was at the docs. Especially Dominic as he’s an adult and this will do much more damage to him.


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Here’s the latest scoop from their friends, not sure how accurate it is but this is what their friends are saying. Supposedly some kids were lighting parts of these bushes on fire to use as flame throwing projectiles of some type, not sure what the plants are called. They are those big invasive plants that are spreading like crazy with off white feather like things that grow out of them, the long leaf part of the plant is sharp. I was told that they light the feather part and throw them. Dumb thing to do but kids do dumb things. I was told that the minor was actually putting out a bush that caught on fire when he was caught but that he didn’t start it. Supposedly Dominic wasn’t there. This all comes from the boys that got arrested but who knows, they might be covering their tails. But I’m going to stay positive and hope it wasn’t them.


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From the description, I am guessing that this area backs up to a neighborhood I lived in several years ago. I think it may be owned by a church intending it to be used for a site for a private school at sometime in the future. I am hoping that they punish these kids pretty hard as the consequences of a fire there could be bad if the wind was blowing from the normal NW or N directions. But I agree with you that they need to be sure they have the correct guilty parties first.


By the way, the plant to which you are referring is Pampas Grass — very invasive and a nasty one to remove because of the serrated, almost razor-sharp leaf blade edges.


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That Pampas Grass is nasty stuff. It’s terrible where I live, I’m not sure why the city doesn’t do more to try and get rid of it. When I bought my home it had a huge plant in the yard, it was hard to get it out and kept spreading even after we got rid it. I don’t like to use weed killers products but I was so desperate that I poured Roundup on it, it didn’t do a thing, I think the plant liked it. Finally some strong young men dug and dug while getting little cuts from the plant and it finally came out. People need to be required to get them out of their yards. One of my neighbors has a big plant in their yard, I wish that they’d get rid of it, I can see little ones springing up around it.


As far as where the fires occurred, I’ve heard different stories but it’s all around the Oak Park and James Way area. I know where you’re talking about, you’re talking about behind the medical campus where part of that massive building developement might get approved on the 19th of this month. I believe that there is a lot of that grass in that area. One of my kids just told me that is precisely where it happened. Apparently it’s all over Facebook. The kids call that area ‘Egypt’.


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Sounds typical for the AG police. I can’t tell you how many dumb things the police detained my kids for when we lived there, but here’s one. My daughter and her girlfriend went to a party and parked across the street in front of the temple in Halcyon. They were in high heels and party dresses. When they came out to get in their car, the police were there because the temple had been tee peed with toliet paper. They held them for two hours while they searched their car and purses, and finally went across the street and verified that they had been at a party there. When I checked the next day, there was no record, city or county, that they had even been stopped. Yet, the girls counted five vehicles, sheriff’s department and AG police that had been gathered there to search them.


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If it was where OnTheOtherHand said then I don’t understand why AG cops were involved. That area is in the county not the city of AG, it’s closer to Pismo than to AG. But who knows, it’s all in the same area, right on the intersection of Pismo, AG and the county.


I agree though that the AG cops need to get their act together. I’m very pro cop but a few local depts need some overhauling.


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Some arsonist set 19 small fires in Los Angeles yesterday as well. Is there some kind of weird arsonist fire celebration that occurred throughout California yesterday that we don’t know about?


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They like fire so much, give a little taste !


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