Bellingham police are trying to solve a string of suspicious fires set throughout the city since June 30.
Fire crews have responded since then to at least nine blazes that Bellingham police and fire officials consider suspicious, the largest one in a garage attached to the back of a house in the 1500 block of Larrabee Avenue. Neighbors escorted the resident safely out of the home around 3 a.m. on July 5, and firefighters contained the fire to the garage, which sustained an estimated $50,000 in damage, Bellingham fire Capt. Dustin Michaelis said.
No one was hurt in any of the fires, typically set alongside sheds and in dumpsters in residential neighborhoods. Police have no suspects.
The fire calls in these cases came in rapid succession: At 3:39 a.m. on June 30, Bellingham Fire Department responded to a shed burning on the 2100 block of King Street. Less than 30 minutes later, firefighters already on the scene of the shed fire had to move two blocks up King Street to confront a 10-by-10-foot shed that was “fully involved” in flames, Michaelis said.
A possible suspect was seen near that fire, Bellingham police Lt. Claudia Murphy said, but police were not able to get a description of the person.
Three fires were started within 40 minutes on the evening of July 5. Someone lit a shed on fire shortly before 9:10 p.m., in the 1600 block of Lincoln Street. At 9:36 p.m., police and fire responded to two plastic dumpsters burning in the 1300 block of Orleans Street. Both bins were “significantly damaged,” Michaelis said, but firefighters were able to keep the flames away from nearby buildings.
Minutes later, police and fire crews found a burning pile of garbage and other materials in a homeless camp, in a wooded area near Valencia and Iowa streets. No one was at the camp at the time.
Murphy noted three more fires on July 3 on Ivy, North Forest and North Garden streets. Someone had set fire to a discarded couch, a political sign and a cardboard box.
Police officials do not know if all the fires are connected. Detectives are reviewing video surveillance and seeking witnesses.
Anyone who has any information about these fires is asked to contact Bellingham police at cob.org/tips or 360-778-8611.
Police suggest keeping garbage and recycling bins away from buildings, or inside if possible. Large commercial dumpsters should be locked.
“Do not put out couches, furniture or other household items with a ‘free’ sign on them,” Murphy added. “That is actually called littering and dumping, and gives folks setting fires fuel.”
