Crews Begin Removing Charred Remains Of McKinley Park

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – It's been nearly a month since an arsonist destroyed a play structure at McKinley Park in Sacramento. And today, thanks to a caring company, crews are busy beginning to clean it up.

Workers from American Technologies, Inc. began removing the charred remains of the play structure Tuesday morning.

About a month ago, a large portion of the wooden playground was destroyed in a suspicious fire leaving behind just a burned out shell of what a community had worked so hard to build.

The company stepped in at the request of their Sacramento branch manager, Barry Metcalf, who lives near in the McKinley Park neighborhood with his wife and twin daughters.

"I brought my kids here on the swing sets and playgrounds ever since they were able to walk," said Metcalf. "They know that daddy does fire work, so they encouraged me to help out as well."

After the fire, Metcalf contacted his boss at American Technologies, a fire restoration firm, and asked if they could help out.

"They gave their blessing. I made one quick phone call and they said: 'Go ahead.' It was an easy one," Metcalf said.

So demolition crews began their volunteer efforts by tearing down the charred play structure. They hope to have everything done by Thursday.

The park was built almost 20 years ago for $500,000 in donations and city funds.

So far, a new campaign to rebuild the McKinley Park playground has raised about $35,000.

A community meeting to discuss rebuilding plans and costs is scheduled for September 6 at 6 p.m. in the Grand Hall at the Clunie Community Center located at 601 Alhambra Blvd.

A website has also been established at www.rebuildmckinley.org.