$5,000 reward offered after string of suspicious fires in Reno

Martin Griffith

Monday, May 29, 2000 | 9:09 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A $5,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of a serial arsonist as fire officials investigate the 12th suspicious fire here in just under two months.

Fire Battalion Chief Mitch Glazner said a blaze that destroyed a portion of Saint Mary's HealthFirst clinic in southeast Reno on late Saturday night was deliberately set.

"There's no way to tell at this time whether this fire is linked to the others until investigators look through all the evidence," Glazner said.

"We know some of the fires are not related to the same arsonist, but there are similarities with a majority of them."

Most of the fires have involved office buildings, apartment complexes and homes under construction. The blazes have occurred from one end of town to another.

A group of northern Nevada builders posted the $5,000 reward after an arsonist tried to set two more fires at construction sites early Friday.

Earlier in the week, a spectacular arson fire destroyed the wooden frame of an office building still under construction in southwest Reno.

Since March 30, an apartment building near downtown and two homes in north Reno under construction also were destroyed by fires set in early morning hours.

Fire officials have warned builders to increase security at their construction sites.

Investigators believe the blazes at the buildings under construction are the work of a pyromaniac who sets fires for the fun of it. The other fires may be the work of copy cats, they said.

"Whether they're the work of the same person is hard to tell," Glazner said. "We're spending a lot of time following up on leads to apprehend the person or persons responsible."

No injuries have been reported because the buildings set ablaze have been unoccupied.