A pair of Teslas caught fire and were destroyed in San Francisco over the weekend, just weeks after an autonomous electric vehicle was set on fire in a nearby neighborhood, according to authorities.
During a 30-minute period early Saturday morning, the San Francisco Fire Department responded to two separate vehicle fires in close proximity, on Bonifacio Street near Mabini Street and Shipley Street between 4th and 5th streets, authorities said. .
The department extinguished the fires and began investigating at least one as suspected arson.
Video obtained by CBS News Bay Area showed the origins of the second fire: A person set the white Tesla Model Y on fire around 12:45 a.m. The unidentified person lit a fire in one of the wheel wells, causing the entire vehicle to catch fire. calls in a matter of minutes, as the video shows.
Van Vuong told the local television station that he was on his way to play tennis Saturday morning when he saw the burned-out vehicle and didn't realize it was his.
“We drove by there and then I thought, 'Shoot, where's my car?'” he said. “Then I thought, 'No! That can't be my car!'”
That fire occurred half an hour after another Tesla caught fire on Bonifacio Street, just a block away, according to the fire department. The fire department and police department did not say whether the first Tesla was also set on fire, although they were investigating the fires together.
No arrests have been made in the Tesla fires.
The incidents took place just over a mile from where vandals set fire to and destroyed a self-driving Waymo electric vehicle during Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinatown earlier this month.
Published videos A person was shown on social media using a skateboard to smash the car's windows while the sensors on the roof continued to spin.
Crime in San Francisco has been the target of criticism from politicians and others, including Tesla founder Elon Musk, who publicly called the city where his company, X, is based “post-apocalyptic,” and said that “You could literally film a 'Walking' movie.” “Dead episode in downtown SF.”
