Surveillance footage helps ignite potential arson investigation following 2 San Jose fires

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The San Jose Fire Department is looking into two separate grass fires on the same street near Downtown San Jose after surveillance video obtained by ABC7 News reignited the investigation.

The first was early Sunday morning at the corner of Asbury Street and Coleman Avenue.

The second, just a few hundred yards down Asbury, towards Spring Street, on Monday afternoon.

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The charred remains of the fires that torched empty fields near the San Jose airport were still visible Thursday.

The flames hit much too close to home for the owner of Crazy Flowers, Katsiaryna Karnilovich, who caught the entire incident on security cameras, including how it started.

"For me, it's very scary because here, the grass is very dry," Karnilovich said. "And one, two, five minutes, my business is covered in fire, too."

Karnilovich showed ABC7 News the surveillance footage from two fires on her street on May 18 and 19.

Just before 1:40 a.m. Sunday, a man is seen riding a bike down Asbury Street, from an area with the city's largest encampment, towards Coleman Avenue.

The video shows the man pull over in front of Karnilovich's shop just before the flames ignite.

The blaze grew for ten minutes until the San Jose Fire Department arrived and a single-engine crew quickly extinguished the fire.

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"I'm very angry because I try to build a beautiful space, but it's dangerous and customers are afraid," Karnilovich said.

Our cameras were there the next day, about half a block from the first fire, for another blaze that was put out around 8 p.m.

But what they didn't see was two men walking in the field an hour and a half earlier.

They were captured once again on surveillance as they walked from the area where smoke and flames were visible, just minutes later.

"Same situation, in a little bit of a different place of this area too," Karnilovich said. "I think, maybe it was the same guys."

San Jose Fire determined that both of these incidents were just vegetation fires, and the arson unit wasn't even requested.

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The investigations were at a standstill until we showed them the surveillance video.

SJFD says the new evidence provided a spark to ongoing investigations, as fire and police work to find out if the blazes were connected and who or what started them.

The departments praised Karnilovich for the videos and called on others to do the same for other incidents to help investigators.

Karnilovich hopes justice is served for the sake of businesses on this street who survived a dangerous situation.