Man Posing as Firefighter Scams Business

Just days ago, a man dressed in a firefighter uniform walked into the Wolf’s Head men’s store in Santa Barbara.

“Just like a navy blue kind of outfit , I mean he came in with a clipboard and stuff like that, clean cut, very much like a firefighter would look,” said Cristian Sagastume.

The man told Sagastume that he was with the Santa Barbara Fire Department and his business was in violation of city code because they didn’t have a fire extinguisher.

“He did have a patch here and it said fire protection service,” he said.

He asked us about our fire extinguisher and if we had one and that we needed to be up to code.”

The so-called firefighter sold him an extinguisher for $70.

“I got bamboozled into paying the 68 dollars that he said we should pay,” he said.

We want to re-iterate to the public this man is not affiliated at all with the city fire department,” said Ryan Guilio, Fire Inspector with the City of Santa Barbara.

“We never charge there when we’re doing these types of inspections,” he said.

Guilio also added that this type of scam is common and business owners need to be on the lookout.