Santa Rosa police are investigating the cause of four small fires started within an hour early Wednesday morning.
The Santa Rosa Fire Department tweeted on Wednesday that police had taken "a potential suspect" matching a witness' description into custody. Santa Rosa Police Lt. Dan Marincik told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that officers arrested a man matching the description on outstanding warrants unrelated to the fires, and the man is considered "a person of interest" in the investigation.
The Santa Rosa Police Department didn't respond to an emailed request for comment from KCBS Radio prior to publication. This story will be updated when we hear back.
Fire officials said a vegetation fire was first reported at 6 a.m. on Guerneville Road, just east of Ridley Avenue, where it grew to about 5 feet by 20 feet before it was extinguished.
At 6:29 p.m, firefighters found burning debris near Guerneville Road and Lance Drive. Six minutes later, the fire department received reports of a third fire burning along a creek near Herbert Street and Jennings Avenue.
Fire investigators and police officers found a fourth fire at 6:53 a.m. while patrolling the area, this one along the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit tracks near Central Avenue and Carrillo Street. A witness provided a description of a potential suspect, and a man matching that description was found in the general area.
Marincik told the Press Democrat the man was "a person of interest" and didn't provide his name to the paper. The lieutenant "stopped short" of referring to the man as an arson suspect, according to the outlet.
The fire department said no people were injured and no structures were threatened by the fires, and the police investigation remains open.
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