For the Reporter
Firefighters from the Valley Regional Fire Authority responded to three fires overnight Thursday in Auburn.
Residents also reported two additional vehicles have been damaged by fire in the same area.
The first fire – reported at 1:42 a.m. in the 3000 block of M Drive Northeast – was in the detached garage in the unoccupied side of a duplex. One male resident in the occupied side reported the fire. Damage was limited to the garage.
The second fire was reported at 2:33 a.m. in the 1200 block of 30th Street Northeast. Damage was limited to cardboard in a carport.
A third fire was reported at 5:58 a.m. in the 3000 block of M Street Northeast.
The vehicles, a small passenger car and an SUV, were located in the 3100 block of M Drive Northeast and the 1200 block of 30th Street Northeast. The minivan fire, which that was reported at 5:58 a.m., was already out when firefighters were called. The time of the fire is unknown.
There were no reported injuries to firefighters or civilians
All three fires are under investigation.
Auburn Police say they are working with investigators from the VRFA and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) to solve a string of arsons that have plagued the city this fall.
In mid to late September, Auburn suffered several non-structural fires that had been intentionally set along the Interurban Trail or involving Dumpsters and flags.
Although police arrested a suspect for two of those fires, several residential structures were set between October and November when the man was in custody, police said. Those 11 structures were set in clusters on essentially three different days, the last five of them between Thursday, Nov. 5 and Sunday night, Nov. 8.
Anyone with information regarding the fires is asked to call the Arson Hotline at 1-800-55-ARSON or Auburn Police at 253-288-7403.
