Fire at Concord apartment building under construction deemed arson

Authorities said Wednesday an arsonist started a fire that caused $55 million in damage last month to an apartment building under construction in the East Bay.|
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO - Authorities said Wednesday an arsonist started a fire that caused $55 million in damage last month to an apartment building under construction.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the April 24 fire in Concord, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of San Francisco, is the latest in a string of arsons at construction sites in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2016.

The ATF on Wednesday released surveillance video of a suspect it believes started the latest fire. The video shows the hooded suspect entering the construction site through a gap in a fence and duck inside the building. Several second later, the suspect can be seen running from the building as fire erupts behind him.

That fire injured two and briefly displaced 150 neighbors.

The agency said it believes three other fires that damaged similar multimillion-dollar projects were started by an arsonist and is offering a $110,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. ATF spokeswoman Alexandria Corneiro didn't say whether investigators believe the person linked to those three fires started the Concord fire.

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