Series Of Antioch Fires Including Church Fire Investigated As Arson
ANTIOCH (CBS SF) – Authorities in the East Bay are investigating a series of recent suspicious fires including one early Monday morning at an Antioch church.
Contra Costa Fire Marshal Robert Marshall confirmed that there were a total of six fires currently under investigation as suspicious in Antioch.
According to a report on EastCountyToday.net, five of those fires were vegetation fires that happened Sunday evening.
The largest of those fires happened at about 5:38 p.m. when crews were called to Parsons Lane at Lela Way near East 18th Street in Antioch. That fire grew to be one acre and consumed trees and brush in the area, though firefighters were able to keep it from spreading to a structure.
Over the next six hours Sunday night, there were four additional vegetation including one that lit a fence and the exterior of a home on fire at Somerset Place off Hillcrest.
There was one additional vegetation fire on Elm Street that Contra Costa crews assisted the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, but Marshall noted that fire was out of his jurisdiction.
The sixth fire took place early Monday morning. Contra Costa fire crews received a call around 6:14 a.m. about a fire at the Indonesian Baptist Church located at 3109 Lone Tree Way in Antioch.
Crews arrived to find a vegetation fire that spread to a shed as well as the church itself, causing some damage to both buildings.
There were no injuries in the church fire as it was unoccupied at the time.
Marshall said authorities were uncertain if the fires were the work of one person or a group of people. So far, no suspect description has been provided.
Marshall noted that a pattern usually surfaces when investigating suspicious fires and arsonists, but so far no pattern has emerged in these fires.
Marshall also said that the areas have been prone to fires in the past because a lot of homeless live in the areas.
