Does Redding have a serial arsonist on their hands? The Fire Department thinks they might.
On Monday of last week, someone lit a series of fires, including one that damaged a building at the Hope Baptist Church on Churn Creek Road.
Another fire on the property had burned itself out before crews arrived, and there was a small vegetation fire near the Loma Vista overpass. Two other small fires were reported that same day on the other side of the freeway.
On Wednesday a pile of debris was burned on Hartnell Avenue, and on Thursday someone set the contents of a shopping cart on fire east of Churn Creek Road. Redding Fire Marshall Craig Wittner says all of the fires were within walking distance of each other and it is critical to catch whoever is responsible for these fires before things really get out of hand.
“The first fire was a structure. The remainder of the fires were debris or vegetation. Wittner explained. “So the types of things that were burned would lead us to believe that maybe somebody, we don’t know this, were having a psychotic episode, we don’t know for sure, it’s just a theory. But we feel it very well may be connected.”
Anyone who witnessed any of the fires is being asked to call Wittner at 225-4141.