Monrovia police Thursday interviewed a “person of interest” in a series of four possible arson fires in the city, including a blaze that damaged a house early Thursday morning, authorities said.
Firefighters sent to the 800 block of West Walnut Avenue at 2:37 a.m. Thursday extinguished a fire that damaged a single-story house, according to a dispatcher with the Verdugo Fire-Communications Center, which provides fire dispatch services to 12 cities in the San Gabriel Valley. A man suffered smoke inhalation, and a cat died.
Monrovia police Chief Alan Sanvictores told KNX1070 that a “person of interest” in the series of fires was questioned Thursday morning.
“This person is not under arrest, nobody has been booked at this time,” Sanvictores said. “Different evidence that is collected in the early stages of this investigation led us to this individual.”
About 12:35 a.m. Wednesday, a fire damaged a house in the 700 block of West Colorado Boulevard, a dispatcher said. No one was injured.
Some neighbors were forced to evacuate, and firefighters had to retreat when the house collapsed as they were pouring water on it, NBC4 reported.
Shortly before Wednesday’s house fire, two other suspicious blazes were reported in the city, one in some bushes and another at a “little free library,” authorities said.
The fires were being investigated by various fire agencies, along with personnel from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.