By Carmen George
The Fresno Bee
FRESNO, Calif. — Fire investigators have made significant progress curbing a rash of arson fires that rocked Fresno this summer, thanks to the arrest of more than a dozen suspects.
Those people were taken into custody on suspicion of arson from mid-May through August, said Don MacAlpine, the city’s deputy fire marshal.
Nearly 150 fires deemed arson since May were investigated as possible serial arson — defined as one person intentionally setting two or more fires. Those fires quieted down toward the end of July, MacAlpine said, but he added, “I’m not considering this over.”
MacAlpine said investigators still are working to determine who set some of the biggest blazes — such as the large, abandoned packinghouse in downtown Fresno; Procter’s Jewelers and the Helm building on Fulton Mall; and vacant Fantastic Furniture on Blackstone Avenue in central Fresno.
Yet MacAlpine believes a “significant number” of those arrested were responsible for serial arson that was plaguing Fresno.
Of a list of 12 suspects released to The Bee last week, they ranged in age from 16 to 53. More than one is a transient. Other than that, their demographics vary, MacAlpine said.
The most recent arrest on Aug. 28 was James Moore, 53, a transient who was formerly living in Kern County and Bakersfield. He will be charged with aggravated arson and if convicted, faces a minimum of 10 years to life in prison, MacAlpine said.
Of the fires that those arrested are believed to have set, the smallest was something similar to a trash can, and the largest was a residence.
MacAlpine takes them all seriously. He and his staff of three investigators took on each fire “like a bulldog on a fresh pup” because they know a small blaze can easily turn into a big one.
“I have to go through all our autopsies,” MacAlpine said, “and I’ve been through way too many.”
Fortunately, no one was killed in the recent string of fires. And since August, arson patterns in the city don’t look out of the ordinary from what investigators say is typical, MacAlpine said.
But that definitely wasn’t the case before the end of July.
Investigators were looking into clusters of serial arsons in five locations: southeast Fresno, Calwa, downtown Fresno, along highways and along the Tulare Avenue corridor.
“It was quite the phenomenon that we had five subsets ... that’s one for the books,” MacAlpine said. “We literally got hammered there for a few weeks. I was out 24/7.”
Regarding investigations, he said witnesses calling in tips “has been a lion’s share of our success so far ... it made all the difference in the world.”
MacAlpine hopes those tips will continue to come in. He said residents taking video/photos of fires and possible suspects is helpful — but he stresses do not get in harm’s way.
Investigating arson is like “chasing the needle in the proverbial haystack,” MacAlpine said, so “we need everyone’s help that we can muster.”
___
(c)2014 The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services