A San Francisco firefighter is under criminal investigation and could lose his job after police seized dozens of fittings and fire hoses from a building where he runs a sprinkler business in the city’s Mission District.
Mitchell Lee, 51, owns Pacific Automatic Sprinkler Co., where a fire started outside on the evening of April 14 that damaged the side of the building at 2601 Harrison St. After firefighters doused the flames, one fire captain spotted department issued hoses and fittings inside a garage.
The department quickly identified firefighter Lee, according to a search warrant affidavit in the case, as a suspect as he gave the Harrison Street address as his residence of record.
After obtaining a search warrant, police investigators seized 25 hoses and dozens of brass fittings. They also talked to Lee. He told them he bought the equipment at flea markets or picked up pieces firefighters had “left behind at fire scenes,” according to the summary of his interview in a search warrant.