TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police on Sunday arrested a 34-year-old man suspected to have set three dumpster fires downtown. Police said one fire was directly against an apartment building and the others were near a construction site.
The man was booked into Pierce County Jail on Sunday for investigation of first-degree arson and second-degree arson.
Officers from Tacoma Police Department responded about 6:32 p.m. to the 200 block of South G Street for reports of a dumpster fully engulfed in flames against an apartment building, according to a news release from the department. Police said officers talked to witnesses, who provided a description of a man they saw lighting the fire.
Officers responded and tried unsuccessfully to put out the fires with a fire extinguisher. According to the release, Tacoma Fire Department responded and put out the flames. Witnesses again provided a description of a person seen at the fire, and police said it matched the description of the man seen lighting the fire on South G Street.
Shortly thereafter, South Sound 911 dispatchers received reports of two more dumpster fires near the 400 block of St. Helens Avenue.
Officers located the arson suspect at about 6:49 p.m. Police said he was detained without incident.
Police described the man as a “known serial arsonist who has multiple prior arrests for arson in downtown Tacoma.” According to court records, the man has a prior conviction from 2021 in Pierce County Superior Court for second-degree reckless burning after he was accused of setting a dumpster on fire downtown and lighting a fire under a railroad trestle.
The suspect was also convicted in January of second-degree malicious mischief for breaking car windows near downtown.
This story was originally published by The News Tribune.