Chief Sam White of the Union Public Safety Department said officers received a report of smoke around 11:45 p.m. and began patrolling the area. Cpl. Tommy Hart saw a glow and found someone had set a fire on the back porch of a vacant house on 106 Carson St. He called for a fire truck and the small blaze was quickly extinguished.
White said the house had been set on fire before and the owner was trying to repair it.
“This is really a menace to that neighborhood,” White said. “So far nobody has been killed or injured, but the odds are somebody will be killed or injured if this person isn’t apprehended.”
It has been almost a year since a fire has been attributed to the arsonist. The last were on Aug. 20 at a vacant house on 113 Carson St. and at 503 South Church St.— Dixie Curb Market. The store received around $75,000 damage and was closed for several months while it was repaired.
Near Carson Street, the vacant South Church Street Efficiency Apartments also were set on fire three times between December 2007 and January 2008.
White said suspicious house fires in the area date back to 2000. Most of the blazes were started by someone setting fire to papers, mattresses or rags.
Anyone with information about who is setting the fires is asked to call the public safety department at 429-1713 or Union County Crime Stoppers at 427-0800.
“Crime Stoppers would love to give out a reward on this person,” White said.
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