A homeless man started a fire in a Sacramento parking garage. The cost: $500,000 and counting

Eleven months after an unhoused man accidentally started a fire that blazed through a downtown Sacramento garage, the parking structure is mostly operational again. The cost so far: half a million dollars.

The city opened up the parking garage at 10th and I streets, known as the City Hall Garage, as a safe parking site in late January 2021. A man told investigators he was warming beans with a candle early on March 20, 2021 when his Chevrolet Express Mark III van caught fire, burning through the second level of the eight-story garage.

Sacramento Fire Department officials later cast doubt on that story, saying they thought he might have been trying to siphon power from an electric vehicle charger. In a text message last week, Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Keith Wade said the cause of the fire remained undetermined.

Whatever its origin, the fire caused significant issues. The cost of diagnostic and design work as well as the erection of temporary support beams has been approximately $500,000, which city spokesman Tim Swanson said is covered by the city’s insurance.

The 1,035-spot City Hall Garage reopened at 90% capacity shortly before Christmas, and upcoming work on the remaining 10% — opening up the concrete and repairing post tension cables — is not expected require the structure to be closed down.

Ground-floor tenants include empty office spaces and storefronts vacated by Michael Z Salon and Vela Cafe, which remain cordoned off by a chain-link fence.

None of those tenants has been assessed rent since the fire, Swanson said, and the city is working to help them reopen.

On the other side of the 10th Street garage entrance, the sidewalk is blocked by tents.

The City Hall Garage netted $4.1 million annually before the fire, though that figure also represented a more bustling downtown Sacramento before so many state employees worked from home. As a result of the pandemic and fire, Sacramento’s five-year parking fund will have an estimated $5.1 million shortfall come Fiscal Year 2023-24, according to city budget documents.

Urgency because of winter deaths

The city opened the garage to people living in their vehicles because several unhoused people had already died of exposure that winter, said City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, whose district includes downtown Sacramento. The city had been reluctant to open warming centers for fear of COVID-19 transmission, which caused the Library Galleria center to shut down in February 2021.

The garage was a logical location for those already in downtown Sacramento — many of them across the street in Cesar Chavez Plaza — given the parking spots vacated by employers’ shift to remote work, said Bridgette Dean, the director of the city’s Department of Community Response.

“It was one of the few city facilities that we could opens safely and quickly for that purpose,” Valenzuela said. “If we ever did that again, we would have additional measures in place to prevent that sort of incident.

Were the city to let people park in a garage overnight again, Dean said, they’d be confined to one area for better management. Entry and exit points were monitored at City Hall Garage, but there was little security otherwise. The only resources provided were snacks, water, blankets, personal protective equipment and restroom access. It was a place to shelter for the night, and not much more.

New safe ground site for homeless

The city’s current safe parking sites already illustrate changes from that model. A 24-hour, 60-spot lot on south Front Street launched a few weeks after the City Hall Garage fire has port-a-potties, storage and meal access. Case managers work out of nearby trailers, and anyone who uses the site must enter their information into the city’s Homeless Management Information System, which connects them with additional services.

A soon-to-expire “Safe Ground” under Capital City Freeway at W and 6th streets similarly has case workers on site and the same information-sharing requirement for its 100-150 car and tent campers. Between July and November 2021, 134 people exited the safe ground into more stable living situations such as family reunification, indoor shelters and supportive housing.

“We need trained staff and more security to work with the people who are using the site, and we need clear expectations that people have to agree with in order to stay in the facility,” Dean wrote in an email. “These are all things the Department of Community Response has in place now at the various sites we operate, usually with non-profit third-party providers under contract.”

Another Safe Ground site opened with meals, showers and restrooms in Miller Park on Monday. Valenzuela is exploring an additional site along the American River in Sutter’s Landing, though that’s been met with pushback from East Sacramento neighbors.

“I hope that people don’t give up on this model of safe overnight parking. This sort of thing can really save someone’s life, and while there was an obvious cost to that (City Hall Garage) incident that happened, when it sprung up there were some important lessons learned,” Valenzuela said. “Anytime we can potentially save someone from dying from exposure, I think it’s worth trying.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 5:25 AM.