What’s that smell? It’s burning garbage, according to a statement issued by Lompoc’s public information officer, Samantha Scroggin, on March 19.
“Five dumpster fires have been reported across the city to emergency dispatch since 2:30 a.m. Monday morning,” she wrote later that afternoon in an email.
Scroggin said the city’s police and fire departments were seeking the public’s help in providing information to help identify the culprit or suspects behind the fires.
Scroggin directed the public to call 9-1-1 if they happened to witness a dumpster fire in the future and to relay any information about the acts of arson to the Lompoc Police Department at (805) 736-2341 or on the department’s mobile app. For the moment, the city is advising the public to lock dumpsters “whenever possible” to help prevent tampering and future acts of vandalism.
“A lot of communities go through these things,” Lompoc Police Sgt. Kevin Martin told the Sun.
This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2018.