Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A State Department official says a German man was identified as a suspect in the Los Angeles arson spree because his mother was the subject of a provisional arrest request by Germany. Speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing, the official told The Associated Press Tuesday that authorities learned about Harry Burkhart while working on the mother's case and recognized him in security video of the arson suspect. "When they saw the security footage, they recognized him and they contacted the arson task force," the official said. The official said the footage was...

LA Arson Suspect Identified, Possibly Motivated by Deportation BattleBy RICHARD ESPOSITO, RAY HOMER, KATIE KINDELAN and COLLEEN CURRY Good Morning America – 15 hrs ago Officials this evening identified a man arrested after a series of 52 blazes in the Los Angeles area as Harry Burkhart, 24. Burkhart was charged this afternoon with one count of arson of an inhabited dwelling, with more charges expected as the investigation proceeds, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters. Burkhart was being held without bail. "These were serious and potentially deadly crimes that needlessly endangered thousands of innocent lives," Villaraigosa said. "These crimes...

LAPD officers swarmed and handcuffed what they described as a "person of interest" in the Los Angeles arsonist spree that has left thousands of residents scared out of their wits for days. Fire officials say "it is too early to speculate" if this is the person responsible for the fires. Police have already released surveillance video showing the alleged suspect -- a ponytailed Steven Seagal lookalike (below). As you can see in our video ... the man in custody sports a ponytail Cops previously said 39 fires could be linked to the recent rash of arsons ... and another...

Los Angeles Police Department detectives found materials that could have been used to set fires inside the minivan of a "person of interest" detained for questioning in the recent string of L.A. arson fires, law enforcement sources told The Times. The sources did not reveal details but said detectives confiscated “evidence and materials” that suggest the individual had the ability to ignite some or all of the blazes. Little is known about the man. Sources said the the minivan had Canadian license plates but that detectives believe the man might originally be from Germany.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KTLA) -- Police have released surveillance video of a person of interest believed to be connected to the recent rash of car fires in and around the Hollywood area. LAPD officials said Sunday that they would like to question a suspect described as an older white male with a receding hairline and shoulder-length ponytail. He was caught on tape, wearing a full black outfit, leaving the scene of a car fire Saturday night inside the parking structure at the Hollywood and Highland complex.

A rash of arson fires in the dark of night set Los Angeles on edge over New Year's Eve, and authorities deployed hundreds of extra firefighters, patrol cars, undercover officers and helicopters to stop the attacks. On Saturday night, firefighters rushed to multiple fires, quickly extinguishing a vehicle fire in a Hollywood carport and responding to another in the massive parking structure at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Extra firefighters were reporting to stations across Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Burbank and Glendale, while investigators set up a telephone hotline, interviewed witnesses and ran down tips. Officials announced at least $35,000...

Several more cars burned in suspected arson attacks in the Los Angeles area early Saturday morning, and authorities investigated if they were connected to nearly two dozen deliberately set blazes a day earlier, police said. Seven or eight cars burned Saturday in the North Hollywood area, said officer Robert Collier. He said he didn't have further details of the blazes, but said arson is suspected and there could be a link to the earlier blazes.

At least 16 cars burned Saturday morning in Los Angeles bringing the total number of suspected arson fires to 44 over the last two days, sources told ABC News. In nearly every case, the fires were set in cars parked in and around the Hollywood area. In some cases, the flames spread to nearby buildings. Investigators have not determined a motive behind the blazes, nor have they established whether they are the work of one person or the efforts of people acting together. They are looking at all possibilities behind the blazes, especially the prospect of a serial arsonist on...

Los Angeles authorities investigating a string of more than 35 fires set over the last two days strongly suspect the blazes are the work of more than one arsonist. On Friday morning, 21 fires were started in a relatively small area around Hollywood and West Hollywood. On Friday night and Saturday morning, 16 more fires were reported. They were similar to the ones in Hollywood but were spread out over a much larger area.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Metro police were called to Legislative Plaza late Thursday night after a man allegedly set a fire at the Occupy Nashville camp. Authorities said demonstrators saw a man set fire to an unoccupied sleeping bag. They chased the man, stopped him and held him until police arrived. It was not immediately known if the man was connected to the Occupy Nashville camp or the movement. His name wasn't immediately released.

Before they lit up their shanties, they also co-opted America’s latest craze: Tebowing. At midnight today, they Tebowed.Occupy Denver protesters took a knee at Broadway and West 13th Avenue as Denver police officers lined up at the Denver Public Library, corralling them after pressing them from their weeks-old encampment.Officers arrived at 11:30 p.m. Monday to remove the shelters at the eastern edge of Civic Center. Police Chief Robert White had earlier warned the protestors their time was up to remove structures from the park on their own.They’d be removed forcibly if need be.When the Tebowing was over, “God Bless...

A Brooklyn fiend repaid the kindness of an elderly woman who hired him for odd jobs by first stealing from her — and then burning her alive when she fired him, police said yesterday. “I hope he burns in hell!” the victim’s stricken daughter, Sheila Gillespie Hillsman, 49, fumed to pals on Facebook. DA CALLS FIEND'S ACTION 'BRUTAL MURDER' Accused sadistic killer Jerome “Jerry’’ Isaac, 47, was reeking of gasoline when he turned himself in to cops more than eight hours after the horrific torching of tragic 73--year-old churchgoer Delores Gillespie. Cops said Isaac was furious that the postal clerk...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins man was in jail Friday to face charges related to a fire that burned two buildings and caused $10 million damage. Police arrested Benjamin Gilmore, 29 Thursday night. He's accused of setting the fire in a 4-story building that was under construction at 311 Mason St. That fire spread to Penny Flats, a nearby building that had condominiums and stores in it. Investigators determined the fire was arson. It broke out at 3:30 a.m. on October 24. The building that was under construction was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Investigators from...

Loyalty to your employer is one thing, but setting a competing business on fire? That's just taking it a bit too far. Two Domino's Pizza managers in Florida have been charged with arson after a Papa John's went up in flames.

<p>LAKE CITY, Fla. (AP) — The battle for pizza supremacy has taken a wrong turn in Florida.</p> <p>Two managers of a Domino's Pizza restaurant in Lake City, in north-central Florida, have been charged with burning down a rival Papa John's location. The motive? Police say one of the men admitted that he believed with his competitor out of the way, more pizza lovers would flock to his restaurant.</p>

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Locked-out union workers at American Crystal Sugar Co. are blaming fires at plants in Drayton and in East Grand Forks, Minn., on inexperienced replacement workers hired to take over harvesting duties. Company spokesman Jeff Schweitzer said the fires happened in pulp dryers Thursday at the plant in Drayton and on Friday at the East Grand Forks plant. No one was hurt. East Grand Forks Fire Chief Randy Gust said a pulp dryer fire isn't unusual and that his department responds to about one each year. Union spokesman Mark Froemke said the company won't share information about...

Thousands Flee As Wildfire Torches 300 Texas Homes SAN ANTONIO — A fast-growing wildfire fanned by winds from Tropical Storm Lee torched an estimated 300 homes near Austin on Sunday, and thousands of people in hundreds more homes had to evacuate overnight. "It's catastrophic," Texas Forest Service Fire Chief Mark Stanford was quoted by the Austin American-Statesman website as saying. "It's a major natural disaster." The fire had burned through 14,000 acres and was 16 miles long, threatening some 700 more homes in Bastrop County, just east of Austin. Aerial units estimated that 300 homes were destroyed or damaged. In...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A church service in Charleston stopped before it could even get started, Sunday. The pastor of Pentecostal Affirming Ministries arrived before the afternoon service to find the building full of smoke. Click here to find out more! Now, fire officials have determined it to be an attempted arson. Members of the congregation just had the building donated to them about a month ago. Moving into an older building, they already have a long list of renovations, and now they have an even bigger mess to clean up. “The whole church just smelled horrible and was just...

There may have been no rioting in the Highlands, but no one has been watching the arson and looting of Britain’s cities more closely than the Queen. With fewer than six months to her Diamond Jubilee, when celebrations are planned for the length and breadth of the kingdom, the disorder has alarmed aides planning the extravaganza. Central to their concern is not just the damage to the country’s image overseas, but also how quickly the feelgood factor engendered by April’s Royal Wedding has been lost. From her summer home in Balmoral, the Queen has kept in touch with developments and...

Rolling coverage of the third night of violent disturbances in London, with arson and looting reported at several locations across the capital.

A Jewish worshipper who came on Thursday to pray at the tombs of revered sages in the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem, came across several Arabs who were attempting to set some shrubs in the cemetery on fire. The Jew reported this incident to Arutz Sheva through its You Report page, saying, “The Arabs claimed that they simply threw a cigarette. They were sitting in a cemetery and I do not know what they had to do there, and they are the only ones who were there.” The worshipper, who attached a picture of the fire (below), wrote, “Here's what...

A major fire broke out on Sunday in the Jerusalem Forest, near the Har Herzl military cemetery and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial project. Some 150 dunam of forest were destroyed before the blaze was under control and the flames were stoped several hundred meters before reaching the Pi Glilot fuel storage facility. Video The fire spread quickly through the woods due to the heat. Eight firefighting squads were working to extinguish the blaze all afternoon. They requested planes to help as well. Five people suffered mild injuries due to smoke inhalation. Police closed some roads in the area, including...

NBC Chicago blogger Edward Edward Mcclelland‘s not happy about the fact that ex-con Rodrick Dantzler got ahold of a .40 caliber handgun and killed seven people in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ”The only way to prevent this sort of thing from happening again is to track the weapon back to the gun manufacturer, then burn its factory to the ground. As long as it is legal to make and sell a product whose only function is to kill people, that product will be used to kill people illegally. A thug who’s planning a murder is not likely to worry about the...

Almost 1,000 cases of pet arson are reported every year, according to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency). Two years ago, The American Kennel Club decided to take action against these pyromaniac pets by launching National Pet Fire Safety Day (July 15) to warn unsuspecting owners of the potential danger. Here are the top 5 most notorious pet arsonists and the crimes that made them famous. 5. Lucy the dog denied cake; sets blaze Just this February, Lucy nearly burned down her owner’s Jacksonville, Okla., house when she tried to eat a cake sitting on the stove. Lucy’s “big paws”...

An animal rights activist who burned down a Colorado sheepskin store as well as a leather store and restaurant building in Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday. Walter Edmund Bond, 35, pleaded guilty to felony counts of arson and violence involving animal enterprises. He has already been sentenced to five years in Colorado and could face between five to 20 years for the Utah fires when sentenced Sept. 19. Prosecutor John Huber said the government will argue to make the Colorado and Utah sentences consecutive to one another. "He is unapologetic. He is an unrepentant serial arsonist,"...

Fire-gate, the cover up of who started the Arizona wildfires. Smugglers have exploited environmental restrictions along the border for decades. Arizonans pay the price after smugglers set several wildfires that have burned homes and cost millions of dollars. All of the images in this video were taken after the forest was closed to the public. Smugglers and Illegal Aliens were among the only people in the wilderness. The Department of Homeland Security has failed to provide security for the people of Arizona and beyond.

A group of Arabs and left-wing provocateurs entered the Jewish town of Eli on Tuesday and started several fires, which subsequently spread to their own nearby olive groves. The incident, which occurred Tuesday morning, is not the first in which Arabs from the adjacent village of Karayut have infiltrated Eli's perimeter to commit arson according to security officials who went to investigate the fire. “We saw smoke near our security road shortly after 11:00 and went to investigate,” related a security official from Eli who spoke to Israel National News on condition of anonymity. “At first we saw nothing to...

Investigators are looking into a suspicious fire that damaged the sacristy at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in South Sacramento early Monday. “Yeah, fire on the outside of a church at 5:30 in the morning, it’s suspicious,” Sacramento Metro Battalion Chief John Williams told CBS-13 News. Authorities said the fired caused significant damage to the sacristy but the rest of the church was not affected.

MYFOXNY.COM - Aron Rottenberg is recovering at Westchester Medical Center with burns on 50 percent of his body. The pain is excruciating, his family says. He was burned when he and his son wrestled with a would-be arsonist who on 4 a.m. Sunday had placed flammable rags on Rottenberg's wooden back porch in New Square and tried to light them, according to police. Four hours later, cops arrested Shaul Spitzer, 18, who lives nearby. He had burns on his hands. He was charged with arson, attempted murder, and assault. Rottenberg's wife and daughters were at home sleeping when his son...

Aron Rottenberg is recovering at Westchester Medical Center with burns on 50 percent of his body. The pain is excruciating, his family says. He was burned when he and his son wrestled with a would-be arsonist who on 4 a.m. Sunday had placed flammable rags on Rottenberg's wooden back porch in New Square and tried to light them, according to police. Four hours later, cops arrested Shaul Spitzer, 18, who lives nearby. He had burns on his hands. He was charged with arson, attempted murder, and assault. Rottenberg's wife and daughters were at home sleeping when his son saw on...

The Houston Fire Department is investigating an attempted arson at a southwest Houston mosque after masked men allegedly used gasoline to try to ignite the facility early Saturday.

An LSU student is now in police custody wanted for damages to the LSU War Memorial and other crimes, according to a spokesman with the school. Isaac Eslava, 23, turned himself into LSU Police Thursday afternoon with the assistance of his attorney. Eslava was arrested for criminal damage to property, arson, theft, resisting an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.

BATON ROUGE, LA (AP) - The LSU Police Department said it is looking for a 23-year-old student accused of burning the American flag and stealing the LSU flag that fly at the LSU War Memorial. An arrest warrant names Isaac Eslava, who holds both US and Colombian citizenship, as a suspect in the case. [Picture of suspect Isaac Eslava

While reading something else, I caught this.No mention of whom might be responsable .....

A fire engulfed and destroyed a Catholic church in Hacienda Heights along the 1300 block of Turnbull Canyon Road. The blaze broke out at St. John Vianney shortly after midnight on Saturday. The priest, who was asleep in the rectory adjacent to the church, realized the building was on fire when he heard loud popping noises. The church was fully engulfed when fire crews and arson investigators arrived on scene. Authorities said the fire was raging hottest in the auditorium of the church. They said the wooden pew inside the auditorium accelerated the blaze. It took firefighters several hours to...

In the overnight hours of March 22nd-23rd, a group of radical feminists set fire to the historic 18th century church of Saint Vincent in Sarrià, a place which I know well and have written about on my other blog, Catholic Barcelona. The formerly independent village of Sarrià is a pretty, well-to-do neighborhood in the north end of Barcelona, somewhat reminiscent of Georgetown here in DC. Why those responsible chose this particular parish we do not know, though its pastor, Father Manel Valls, is well-known both in Barcelona and throughout Catalonia for being the celebrant of the televised Sunday Mass on...

Presidential Proclamation--100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire On March 25, 1911, a fire spread through the cramped floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan. Flames spread quickly through the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors -- overcrowded, littered with cloth scraps, and containing few buckets of water to douse the flames -- giving the factory workers there little time to escape. When the panicked workers tried to flee, they encountered locked doors and broken fire escapes, and were trapped by long tables and bulky machines. As bystanders watched in horror, young workers began jumping out of the...

Israeli Muslim Brotherhood Leader Arrested On Arson Charges Family Security Matters - ‎Feb 26, 2011‎ Israel media is reporting on the arrest of Israeli Muslim Brotherhood leader Raed Salah on suspicion of setting forest fires in the south of the country. According to one report: Head of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah... In August 2007, Salah was indicted for “inciting racism and violence”

Public's help sought in solving governor's mansion fire in TexasFebruary 17, 2011 | By the CNN Wire Staff Public safety officials in Texas Thursday released a video of a man throwing a Molotov cocktail at the governor's mansion in 2008, hoping it and a suspect sketch will lead to his identification. The Department of Public Safety and its Texas Rangers division are offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the arson. "We're quite confident someone knows who this suspect is," Steven McCraw, director of public safety, said...

An Austin-based anarchist group whose members were prosecuted for plotting to bomb the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., three years ago has been linked to the unsolved June 2008 arson fire that gutted the Texas Governor's Mansion, officials said Thursday. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that a white Jeep Cherokee photographed by surveillance cameras at the mansion four days before the fire has been "connected to people who were part of that anarchist group." The connection was confirmed about three months ago, he said. The Jeep is believed to have been doing...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A suspicious fire broke out at a building in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood early today, the fourth such blaze in the area in 24 hours. . . . Police and fire arson investigators are trying to determine whether the blaze is connected to three others that broke out within an hour early Thursday in a two-block area in the Castro. No one has been seriously injured in the fires.

A JEALOUS mother killed two of her children when she torched the home she shared with her cheating partner, a court heard. Fiona Adams sparked the blaze to “create a drama” after having been left to look after their three young children while her lover was unfaithful, it is alleged. But tragically the fire started in a laundry basket by the “depressed” 23-year-old took a “rapid and devastating” hold, Nottingham Crown Court heard. It swept through the family’s semi-detached home shortly before midnight, killing her daughter Niamh, five, and two-year-old son Cayden. Adams and her eight-month-old son Kiernan escaped when...

Last Friday we held our downtown Christmas Party at Dugan's Irish Pub. We had a great crowd and the bar was filled with Christmas cheer until smoke began to fill the entire venue. At approximately 8 p.m. the Chicago Fire Department were called to the bar to put out what was a very smoked filled bar. After waiting outside for nearly an hour, we were told that the bar was closed for the night and we were asked to gather our belongings. There were four small dynamite looking devices found in the men's bathroom, smoldering in the trash can. The...

The Blaze reports that upscale homes in Massachusetts are being targeted by arsonists with a clear political message. In two incidents, the message “f*** the rich” was found, and "incendiary devices" were discovered in one home set ablaze. As disturbing as these reports are, one aspect is not being examined - the impact of charged political rhetoric used by the left in attacking the compromise deal between the President and the GOP. Liberal Democrats, like Washington's Jim McDermott, have engaged in class warfare in a concerted effort to demonize the plan. McDermott went so far as to call the compromise...

Arson suspected in 2 Cape Cod incidentsBy Stewart Bishop Globe Correspondent / December 13, 2010 State fire officials are investigating a connection between two separate incidents of arson in two Cape Cod towns, authorities said yesterday. In both instances, someone apparently left messages at the scene condemning wealthy people, officials said. State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said evidence found at both locations has led investigators to believe they might be connected. “There is some commonality to both incidents,’’ Coan said. “There was offensive graffiti that was written and very visibly displayed at both sites.’’

In 2004 a gentleman by the name of John Wega refounded the USCC and at his own expense built an exact replica, as far as Civil War documents could dictate, of one of the chapels in the heart of the city of Gettysburg. The chapel has held services every Sunday from April until the end of November and it is a visitor center as well, open 24/7. Below is a picture of the interior of the rebuilt 480 sq. ft. 40′ x 12′ chapel which was built on a vacant lot with permission, at the time, of the city of...

The terrorist organization Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the fire that has devastated the forests of Mount Caramel, the most serious environmental disaster in the history of Israel. Although the local police authorities attribute the blaze to negligence and the prolonged drought that is affecting the region.

Haifa Forest Fire 'One of Israel's Worst' A forest fire near Haifa, in northern Israel, has killed at least 40 people and injured many more. Firefighters are battling the blaze while paramedics evacuate those who were injured. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached out to Italy, Cyprus and Russia for help in fighting the fire. The cause of the Israel forest fire is unknown. Damon Prison has been evacuated, but a bus carrying prison staff overturned while trying to escape. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called it one of the worst known fires in Israel and ordered the military...

The Prime Minister’s Update Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks earlier this evening (Saturday), 4.12.10, at the Haifa University forward command center: "As soon as the fire broke out, I set two goals: First, saving lives, and second, extinguishing the fire, which effectively means aerial efforts with international cooperation. The work on the ground is the responsibility of Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel Police Inspector-General Dudi Cohen and the Fire and Rescue Service, with the assistance of the IDF, MDA and all the bodies that are represented here. First of all, I would like to say that this...

CORVALLIS -- A fire early Sunday morning at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center attended by Mohamed Osman Mohamud has been declared arson by the Corvallis Fire Department. Officials said that the fire - which was contained to one room - was intentionally set.