The Alameda County Fire Department and Emeryville PD responded to a structure fire near a house on 43rd Street at about 10:30 p.m. last Tuesday. The fire turned out to be one of three “suspicious” fires that were reported that evening.

The fire’s origin was a storage shed behind a housing complex near the Emeryville Senior Center. The fire was quickly extinguished and there were no reported injuries and only “minor to moderate” property damage.

The locations of the other two fires were on the 1000 block of 45th St. (a dumpster) and the 4300 block of Salem St. (a car port area). The fires were deemed suspicious by the ACFD because of the close proximity and short timeframe between each fire.

“It is presumed the three fires were deliberately set,” noted a neighbor who alerted us shortly after the incident.

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“It’s definitely suspicious,” noted another neighbor we chatted with who said the Fire Department responded within 4-5 minutes of the reported fire.”There were several small explosions from all the paint cans.”

The EPD responded to The E’ville Eye’s inquiry by issuing a Nixle alert this morning. “There was no specific suspect description provided by the witnesses, however some reported seeing a person riding away from the area on a bicycle.”

EPD detectives are currently following up on leads, processing evidence, and working with the ACFD investigators to determine the exact cause of the fires and to identify the individual(s) involved in this incident.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Emeryville Police Department at (510) 596-3700.