PAUL WALSH
Star Tribune

No one was injured in the fires, which were all in residential neighborhoods.

Trash cans and leaves were among things set ablaze in a rash of arson within three hours over a large swath of south Minneapolis on Sunday, authorities said Wednesday.

The nine fires were set from shortly before 9 p.m. until just after 11:30 p.m. in mostly residential areas, some of them in alleys, said Assistant Fire Chief Cherie Penn.

No one was hurt. Police have yet to figure out who set the fires or whether they were connected.

Investigators declined to say whether an accelerant was used.

"This isn't funny," Penn said. "While [firefighters] were extinguishing one, they'd get a call for another. Resources are being pulled. People need our help for other reasons. This is a lot in a three-hour time frame."

According to the Fire Department:

The first fire, discovered at 8:47 p.m., was set where 19th Avenue S. dead-ends north of Interstate 94. Three others were set a few blocks to the east and just south of I-94 near E. Franklin Avenue, and two more were discovered farther east along Franklin.

The string then stretched south, with two set east of Bloomington Avenue S. and near E. 26th Street.

The final fire was discovered at 11:35 p.m. on 33rd Avenue, several blocks east of Minnehaha Avenue S.

Also, two homes in Minneapolis caught fire in recent days in suspected arson cases.

One occurred Monday night in the basement of a house in the 300 block of 24th Avenue N. One person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. The other occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday on the porch of a house in the 3200 block of 24th Avenue S. No one was hurt.

Officials asked that anyone with information about any of the fires call 1-800-723-2020.

Copyright 2011 Star Tribune
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April 14, 2011



House Fire, 31st Street x 24th Avenue - April 10, 2011