Ten fires have investigators seeking arsonist

RENO - Inspectors say they're looking for a firebug after the tenth suspicious fire in just under eight weeks.

The most recent blaze destroyed the wooden frame of an office building being built at the corner of Plumas Street and Plumb Lane. By the time fire crews arrived at the construction site, the building was engulfed in a wall of flames.

''It was just in the framed stage,'' said Reno Fire Marshal Larry Farr. ''The flooring hadn't been put down or the roof on. It was just a bunch of wood stacked like kindling in a fireplace.''

Firefighters kept the flames from spreading to three other buildings at the site on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Since March 30, an apartment building near downtown and two homes in north Reno under construction have been destroyed by fires set in the early morning hours. Fire also consumed a portion of a pallet yard in east Reno.

At the apartment complex and pallet yard, a smaller fire was set several days before the more destructive blazes. Investigators found a flammable liquid at several of the sites.

''Its all kind of the same thing,'' Farr said. ''Wood ready to burn.''

Two small fires scorched outside walls of a Reno police internal affairs building and an emergency child protection shelter.

Fire investigators are chasing several leads, but aren't close to an arrest, Farr said.

''It is difficult,'' he said. ''Arson is generally a crime that is committed in secrecy. There aren't a lot of witnesses and a lot of evidence is destroyed by the fire or the fire-fighting operation. It's not something where we can get footprints or tire tracks.''

In addition to pursuing tips from the public, investigators are working on a profile of the arsonist. Investigators typically work from seven profiles into which most arsonists fall, Farr said.

In this case, investigators believe the suspect is a thrill-seeking pyromaniac, who sets fires for the fun of it, Farr said. The locations of the fires, however, have investigators stumped.

''When we get thrill-seeker fire setters, many times the fires are confined to a locale in and around where the person lives or works,'' Farr said. ''But were getting these fires from one end of town to the other.''

Because the buildings set ablaze have been unoccupied, no one has been hurt, including firefighters, Farr said.

But investigators warn that as conditions get drier, it's only a matter of time before one of the fires turns tragic.