San Jose

San Jose Resident Stops Apparent Arson Attempt

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An understaffed San Jose Fire Department has had its hands full all spring and summer long with several calls every day reporting illegal fires.

“It takes one spark to create a fire that can easily spread to homes and businesses, and that’s the last thing we want to see,” said Erica Ray of the San Jose Fire Department.

On Friday, a resident walked out of his home near Independence High School to a man appearing to try to start a fire in a dry creek directly behind his home.

The man is seen questioning the individual who was just steps away from homes saying, “You can’t light fires there.”

“I definitely think it’s scary,” said neighbor Hilton Nguyen. “Every now and then I think I see people walking there through the block.”

NBC Bay Area's Raj Mathai spoke to Damian Trujillo about a video that shows a home owner catching an apparent arson attempt in San Jose.

The man who shot the video sent it to nbc bay area, but was not available to talk on camera today.

We showed the video to his neighbors - and they’re understandably troubled by it  

It appears the man never got the fire lit, but we saw the kindling still there in the afternoon.

Neighbors are thanking their neighbor for speaking up and wondering what would happen if he didn’t. 

 “I have the right. This is my property,” said the man in the video. 

Firefighters said fire season has already been taxiing, and this is exactly the kind of situation that can make a bad season even  worse 

“Our wildland responses going into this summer, it takes a toll on mental health,” said Matt Tuttle of the San Jose Firefighters Union. “It takes a toll on physical health. So it's going to be a very very challenging summer.”

San Jose Fire has a copy of the video and said they plan to pass it along to police for further investigation   

For now, people said they’re just relieved a neighbor said something and said something.

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