More cars set alight in Hollywood arson spree
More cars have been set on fire in suspected arson attacks in the Los Angeles area and authorities are investigating whether they are connected to nearly two dozen that were deliberately set alight a day earlier, police said.
Seven or eight cars burned on Saturday in the North Hollywood area, said officer Robert Collier.
He said arson is suspected and there could be a link to the earlier blazes. “We believe there might be, but we don’t know for sure,” he said.
Fire officials said the first report came in shortly after midnight, and the most recent about three hours later.
Early on Friday morning, fires were reported in nearly two dozen locations in Hollywood and the neighbouring city of West Hollywood during a four-hour period before dawn. In nearly every case, the fire started in a parked car.
Flames from torched vehicles ignited some nearby houses early on Friday, including one once occupied by Doors frontman Jim Morrison.
But Collier said that although some of today’s blazes are in carports and garages, he did not have any reports of damage to buildings.
Police set up a command post in the North Hollywood area and have called a tactical alert, allowing them to call in more officers.
No arrests have been made and no injuries reported.
Another car fire was reported at around 7pm on Friday in an underground garage in Hollywood that fire officials were investigating for possible links to the series of arson blazes. Los Angeles Fire Captain Jaime Moore said that a connection has not been ruled out.
Arson investigators “consider it to be an incendiary fire similar to the fires from this morning”, he said.
The new fires broke out even as authorities beefed up patrols and urged the public to remain vigilant overnight.
Officials announced at least $35,000 in rewards for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible.
All of Friday’s fires were in a two-square mile area and most were in densely populated residential neighbourhoods where residents would have likely been asleep.
Authorities interviewed witnesses and looked for any video footage that may have capturedthose responsible for the spate of crimes.
Fire officials could not say whether the rash of fires was the work of a copycat. There was a series of other arson fires early on Thursday, also in Hollywood. Two people have been arrested and remain in custody over those blazes, officials said.
One of the homes was in Laurel Canyon, where Morrison and his girlfriend once lived, neighbours said. The winding road was reportedly the inspiration for the Doors’ hit Love Street.
Sandy Gendel, who owns a nearby restaurant, said he heard explosions from what he thought were car tyres. He saw flames 30 feet (10 metres) high coming from the deck of the former Morrison house and a gutted Mazda Miata.
“It was just like a towering inferno,” Gendel said.
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jaime Moore said it is plausible that one person in a car, on a motorcycle or bike could have set all the fires.
