Arson spree

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Authorities arrested a man Monday in connection with dozens of suspected arson attacks that destroyed parked cars, scorched buildings and rattled much of the nation’s second-largest city over the New Year’s weekend.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that Harry Burkhart, 24, was arrested and booked for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling. He is being held without bail. Burkhart resembled a “person of interest” captured on surveillance video.

He was stopped by police early Monday in a van being sought by arson investigators.

More than 50 blazes have flared since Friday in Hollywood, neighboring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

Firefighters have not responded to any other suspicious fires since Burkhart was detained, Capt. Jaime Moore said.

The blazes caused an estimated $2 million in damage and forced many apartment dwellers from their homes. But there were no serious injuries — one firefighter was hurt in a fall from a ladder, and another person suffered smoke inhalation.

One of Saturday’s fires occurred at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, a popular tourist destination bordered by the Walk of Fame in a neighborhood that includes Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Damaged buildings included a former home of Doors singer Jim Morrison in Laurel Canyon.

Most of the fires began in cars. Authorities have not said how they were started. Investigators declined to provide any other immediate details, saying they did not want to jeopardize the case.

The onslaught of intentionally set fires left residents on edge over the holiday weekend in some of the most densely populated areas of the city. Hundreds of investigators, police officers and firefighters raced to deal with the blazes.

Police conducted extra patrols all weekend, and the noise of helicopters and sirens persisted virtually nonstop in Hollywood.

Even long-time firefighters struggled to recall an arson outbreak involving so many fires. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Division Chief James Lopez recalled a notorious case from a generation ago, when California arson investigator John Orr was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1984 killings of four people in one of multiple arsons he set over the course of years.

Some other deliberately set fires were reported Thursday in Hollywood, and two people were arrested. But police said Monday that those suspects were not connected with the other blazes.