Another Suspicious Fire In Heights

HOUSTON - Arson investigators are checking out another suspicious fire in the Heights, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

A garage behind a church on West 19th Street near Durham Drive caught fire at about 4:30 a.m.

Investigators stopped every vehicle in the area to see if anyone saw anything.

There were two suspicious fires in the area last week and there have been 15 others since August. Most of the fires have been in vacant structures.

Investigators said they believe there is a serial arsonist at work.

Residents in the area are concerned.

"There are two more houses that are for sale or vacant, three actually, so there's always a chance it'll be them next," Hoss Wendler said.

Wendler has owned a speaker repair business in the 900 block of West 19th since the early '80s. His business is across the street from the latest fire.

"(The arsonist) must get a thrill out of that, but I'm concerned somebody might get hurt," Wendler said.

Dennis Laviage, owner of C&D Scrap Metal in the Heights, is offering an additional $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

"I am fed up with it and somebody -- they're happy doing what they're doing, and we need to make them very unhappy because that's not natural to start fires. That's destroying property," Laviage said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Heights Fires Connected

Arson officials linked the following 14 fires.

1032 Ashland, Aug. 11, 2009, 2:16 a.m.
1030 Ashland, Aug. 14, 2009, 11:51 p.m.
1030 Ashland, Aug. 16, 2009, 2:07 a.m.
1035 ½ Tulane, Aug. 19, 2009, 12:03 a.m.
1030 Ashland, Aug. 21, 2009, 2:22 a.m.
1030 Ashland, Aug. 28, 2009, 2:45 a.m.
1034 Ashland, Aug. 30, 2009, 11:39 p.m.
1028 ½ Ashland, Aug. 8, 2009, 5:40 a.m.
503 W. 11th Street, Aug. 14, 2009, 5:15 a.m.
807 W. 12th Street, Aug. 17, 2009, 3:45 a.m.
612 W. 9th Street, Sept. 17, 2009, 5:49 a.m.
1301 Yale Street, Aug. 22, 2009, 9:20 p.m.
1030 ½ Ashland, Oct. 2, 2009, 1:32 a.m.
745 W. 17th Street, Oct. 9, 2009, 10:32 p.m.

Arson officials are still working to determine if the following fires are connected.

23rd Street and Durham, Oct. 12, 2009
1998 West 15th Street, Oct. 21, 2009
West 19th Street at Durham, Oct. 29, 2009

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