An arsonist set fire to the door of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Burlington office Friday morning, briefly trapping staff inside, according to police.
Nobody was injured, authorities said, and the senator was not present at the time.
According to the Burlington Police Department, an unidentified man entered the vestibule outside Sanders’ third-floor office on Church Street at around 10:45 a.m. and sprayed “an apparent accelerant” on the door. The man lit the accelerant, prompting “a significant fire” to engulf Sanders’ office door and a portion of the vestibule, police said in a press release. The man then fled.
The blaze impeded staff members’ egress from the office, police said, “endangering their lives.” The building’s sprinkler system extinguished the fire. Firefighters and police officers evacuated Sanders’ office and those nearby.
The Burlington Police Department released an image of a man it identified as a suspect in an alleged arson attack on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Burlington office on Friday, April 5, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Burlington Police Department
Police said they had not apprehended a suspect and had not identified a motive. They released photos of a man they described as a suspect and asked for the public’s help in identifying him.