Crime & Safety

Search for Arsonist Continues

No new fires were reported overnight, according to the LAFD.

Authorities continued their search Monday for whoever is responsible for since Thursday.

Multiple car and structure fires were reported on Saturday and Sunday mornings within the same area, starting around 3 a.m. each day, but there were none Monday morning, said Sgt. Ernie Fisher of the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Station.

The fires broke out in an area bounded by Lankershim Boulevard on the east, Vanowen Street on the north, Laurel Canyon Boulevard on the west and Burbank Boulevard on the south.

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The LAFD said its Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section was working closely with investigators from the North Hollywood station in an ongoing investigation into as many as 18 fires that appear to have been deliberately set dating back to the early morning hours of Thursday. The fires, all listed as suspicious, were concentrated in the North Hollywood area.

The LAFD has recalled off-duty investigators to assist with the investigation, and McNeil said his division has beefed up patrols and used helicopters this morning to monitor the targeted area.

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"No descriptions, no car sightings, nothing so far,'' McNeil said early this morning. "But the investigation is ongoing.'' Officials did not definitively link an extensive apartment-building fire on Simpson Avenue early Sunday to the arsonist.


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