Fire at Sanders’s Vermont office being investigated as arson: Local officials

A fire that occurred at Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) office in Burlington, Vt., is being investigated as arson, according to authorities. 

The Burlington Police Department (BPD) said in a media release that first responders from both the BPD and the Burlington Fire Department responded to “an arson incident” Friday morning at the building housing the senator’s office. 

“Investigation revealed that an unknown male subject entered the vestibule of the Office of United States Senator Bernard Sanders,” according to the press release. “The male sprayed an apparent accelerant on the entrance door to Senator Sanders’s offices. He then lit the accelerant and fled. A significant fire engulfed the door and part of the vestibule, impeding the egress of staff members who were working in the office and endangering their lives.”

According to a separate release from the fire department, crews “arrived to find the sprinkler system and fire alarms activated and a fire in the vestibule between the elevator and the entrance door” to Sanders’s office. The fire was then “extinguished” and Sanders’s office, along with nearby offices “were searched and cleared of occupants.”

“No injuries were reported,” according to the fire department release. “The door to the Senator’s office sustained moderate fire damage, and the third floor and floors below sustained significant water damage. Fire crews deployed salvage covers on the floors below to protect items from water.”

The Burlington Fire Department also said in the release that the fire was found to be “incendiary in nature” by the Burlington fire marshal’s office.

At the time of the BPD’s release, the suspect in the incident had been “unapprehended.”

“We are grateful to the Burlington Fire and Police Departments who responded immediately today to a fire incident that took place in our office building,” Kathryn Van Haste, state director for Sanders, said in a statement to the Hill. “We are relieved that no one on our staff and, to our understanding, no one in the building was harmed.”