4 Fires In Palo Alto 'Suspicious'; Photo Of Person Of Interest Released

PALO ALTO, CA -- Four fires in the downtown Palo Alto area early Friday morning are being investigated as suspicious and police have released a photo of a person of interest. According to police, the first in the series of fires happened at about 2 a.m. Friday when a vehicle fire was reported in the Caltrain parking lot on Urban Lane. Palo Alto police and fire personnel were dispatched to the scene and found found the vehicle fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters doused the blaze but there was significant damage to the vehicle, police said.

The second blaze as reported at about 4:25 a.m. in the 100 block of Palo Alto Avenue. Police and fire personnel responded and found a dumpster on fire.

About an hour later, at 5:30 a.m., Palo Alto dispatchers received a report of a fire inside of a parking garage in the 500 block of High Street. Responding officers and firefighters found a small pile of smoldering ash inside of a dumpster area.

As they were extinguishing that fire, dispatchers received another report of a fire -- this time it was a brush fire along the bicycle path near the intersection of Homer Avenue and Alma Street, police said. Officers and firefighters arrived to find a small brush fire burning along the path just south of the Homer Avenue tunnel, police said.

No one was injured in any of the fires, authorities said.

Palo Alto police detectives and a Palo Alto Fire Department arson investigator responded and have deemed the fires suspicious.

A photo released Friday came from a surveillance camera on a property near where the dumpster fire on Palo Alto Avenue broke out. The surveillance footage showed an adult male wearing a beanie-type cap, a light-colored long-sleeved shirt, dark-colored pants and a backpack.

"It is unknown if this subject is related to the fire but police are releasing a still image of this person of interest and asking for the public’s help in identifying him," police said Friday.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.

Photo via Palo Alto Police Department