Two arson suspects have been arrested Wednesday in reference to two separate sequence of fires that ignited first in Boyle Heights and Chinatown, after which later in Lincoln Heights, officers stated.
Though the fires got here days after a suspected arson blaze engulfed a bit of the ten Freeway in downtown L.A., shutting it down, authorities haven’t confirmed whether or not Wednesday’s fires are believed to be linked to the freeway blaze, the work of a copycat or unrelated.
Between 7 and eight a.m., metropolis firefighters “responded to and quickly extinguished approximately 12 intentionally set vegetation and debris fires in the Boyle Heights and Chinatown area,” stated Brian Humphrey, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman. No accidents or structural injury have been reported.
One suspect, who has not been named, was apprehended shortly after 8 a.m. and arrested on suspicion of arson. Witnesses noticed the person using a bicycle away from every of the blazes as they started to pop up farther west from the Eastside, police stated.
“At this time, there is no known connection between this suspect and other fires,” Humphrey stated.
The LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section, working with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Division, was instantly deployed to the world after the primary sequence of fires was reported Wednesday morning.
The second arson suspect was arrested after a string of suspicious fires in Lincoln Heights round Avenue 33, Humphrey stated. The two suspects aren’t believed to be related, Humphrey stated, noting that 164 arson arrests have been made across town final yr.
Neither suspect has been named but by authorities.
The slow-burning fires have been east of the interchange between the 5 and 110 freeways. Multiple lanes of the 5 have been closed simply earlier than 11 a.m. as firefighters labored to place out the fires.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol had closed some freeway lanes, in addition to the transition roads from the northbound and southbound 5 Freeway to the northbound 110, together with the Avenue 26 onramp.
“This series of fires is considered suspicious and under active LAFD investigation as a possible criminal act,” the Fire Department stated.
Firefighters staged a few of their autos on the Viertel’s Official Police Garage tow yard on Avenue 33, across the Arroyo Seco from the 110 Freeway. Employees on the lot declined to remark in regards to the fires.
