Fires

At Least 16 SF Portable Toilet Arsons, Police Say

San Francisco law enforcement officials are still trying to find the person who has set as many as 16 portable toilets ablaze in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood since November.

"No one has seen anyone," fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said Thursday, adding that both the arson unit and Police Department have been investigating the case.

In early December, the fire department had to warn construction site managers about the fires and asked them to move their toilets away from buildings and trees.

The petroleum-based outhouses, commonly called porta-potties, are highly flammable and can turn into a big puddle of blue goop within minutes, scorching anything in its way, a porta-potty salesman said.

"Catch on fire? No problem. Light up the toilet paper and that'll start it. Boom. They'll be down in five minutes," salesman Cameron Vigil of Far West Sanitation & Storage said.

Vigil, who rents the toilets to sites all over the Bay Area, said his company has lost at least one or two to the Russian Hill fiasco, and typically it will cost a client $800 to $1,000 to replace.

An arsonist has struck at least four times in November, 10 in December and twice this year. Typically the toilets are lit between 1 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. but the fires have also happened at more random times such as Saturday, Dec. 13, at 8:55 p.m.

An arsonist also decided to ring in the New Year shortly after 5 a.m.

Vigil said porta-potty fires are not uncommon but this many in such a concentrated area is unusual.

He said it was a worry when his company was asked to supply the portable toilets for the Chinese New Year events in Chinatown, but it did not stop him from renting.

"I think it's some kid getting his kicks. I don't think it's someone who has a vendetta against portable toilets," he said.