FAIRFIELD, California — The students of Cleo Gordon Elementary School were left with a torched playground after a Saturday night arson.
According to Fairfield Fire Department, a plastic border that separated the bark from the playground caught fire on Saturday. The fire was fully involved by the time firefighters arrived, but, even though the fire was quickly put out, it left severe damage to the playground.
The fire leaves leaves students with fewer play options at recess.
"It's a terrible thing, why mess with the kids?" said Ed Hayden, a grandfather of two kids at the school.
"The kids are going to suffer behind this, this... playground is for their enjoyment during school time so why would anybody want to do that? They definitely have some kind of issue. It's not good," Hayden added.
The fire department said the cause of the fire was arson and says it's obvious the fire was malicious in intent and obviously not natural.
"Obviously something had to have lit it. Whether it could have been a cigarette butt, whether somebody could have lit it with some sort of device, whether somebody used an ignitable liquid, we're unable to detect any of that because everything gets consumed when you have those types of fires, said Andy Cranston, Battalion Chief for Fairfield Fire Department. "They burn really hot because of the plastics," Cranston said.
There were no eyewitness accounts and no camera footage of the arson.
Anyone with information on the arson can call Fairfield Fire Department at 707-428-7300.
In the meantime, it'll take weeks, if not months, till the playground is rebuilt or replaced.
"It's going to be months before they're able to rebuild it, and have it back up and running for the kids - for the kindergartners - but I'm sure they're going to have other things for them to do until that happens," Hayden said.
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