--- title: Officials Investigate Possible Arson at California Mosque description: The Islamic Society of Palm Springs may have been firebombed canonical: https://time.com/4146661/officials-investigate-possible-arson-at-california-mosque/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-11T23:34:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:19:11.969Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Officials Investigate Possible Arson at California Mosque og:description: The Islamic Society of Palm Springs may have been firebombed og:url: https://time.com/4146661/officials-investigate-possible-arson-at-california-mosque/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Officials Investigate Possible Arson at California Mosque twitter:description: The Islamic Society of Palm Springs may have been firebombed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Officials Investigate Possible Arson at California Mosque by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 11, 2015 11:34 PM CUT by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 11, 2015 11:34 PM CUT A mosque in Coachella, Calif. went up in flames on Friday after an incident that is being investigated as [arson](http://www.kesq.com/news/possible-arson-fire-investigated-at-coachella-mosque/36918766 "undefined"). The fire broke out at the Islamic Society of Coachella Valleyjust after noon local time, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed. The fire has since been contained, and officials are investigating it as “possible arson.” The sheriff’s office would not say if the incident was being investigated as a hate crime. There were no injuries. The FBI is [reportedly investigating the fire](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-authorities-investigate-blaze-inside-coachella-valley-mosque-20151211-story.html "undefined") and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was on the scene Friday: > [](https://twitter.com/ATFHQ/status/675448335730384896) The incident came days after a severed [pig’s head](http://time.com/4139952/severed-pig-head-philadelphia-mosque/ "undefined") was found outside a Philadelphia mosque, the latest in a spate of anti-Islamic incidents following terrorist attacks in Paris in November. The Los Angeles Times [reports](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-authorities-investigate-blaze-inside-coachella-valley-mosque-20151211-story.html "undefined") that a shot was fired into the Coachella mosque last year, and investigated as a possible hate crime. No one was injured. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4146661/officials-investigate-possible-arson-at-california-mosque/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4146661/officials-investigate-possible-arson-at-california-mosque/"},"headline":"Officials Investigate Possible Arson at California Mosque","datePublished":"2015-12-11T23:34:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:19:11.969Z","description":"The Islamic Society of Coachella Valley may have been firebombed","url":"https://time.com/4146661/officials-investigate-possible-arson-at-california-mosque/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4146661/officials-investigate-possible-arson-at-california-mosque/","name":"Officials Investigate Possible Arson at California Mosque"}}]}] ```