By Lyndsay Winkley
The San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO — Police are searching for an arsonist who set a series of blazes around North Park and Hillcrest Monday morning.
The first fires were started in the beds of pickups parked on Boundary Street between Lincoln and Polk avenues about 4:40 a.m., said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Lee Swanson.
A couple of hours later a spate of fires were started within blocks of each other in Hillcrest. The first one was sparked in a dumpster in an alley off University Avenue west of Herbert Street about 7 a.m., said San Diego police Officer Joshua Hodge.
At 7:10 a.m., a garage was lit on fire on Herbert Street near Essex Street, Swanson said. The blaze was doused before it could spread to a nearby home, but it still charred $25,000 worth of contents. The fire also caused about $30,000 in damage to the garage.
Then at 7:19 a.m., two dumpsters were scorched near University and 10th avenues. Another dumpster was burned in a shopping center near Vermont Street and University at 7:46 a.m., authorities said.
About 45 minutes later another dumpster fire was started, this time on Centre Street south of University. The blaze blackened the outside of a nearby apartment building, but didn’t cause any serious damage, Swanson said.
Fire investigators suspect all the fires were intentionally set and are looking into whether they were set by the same person. At least one witness spotted a man who may have set the fires. He was described as white, unshaven, in his 30s or 40s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and about 160 pounds with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt, a black jacket, black pants and a black hat.
A different man was arrested on a warrant as officers were investigating, but he is not suspected in the fires.
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