Serial arsonist has Los Angeles community on edge amid ongoing car-burning spree

A serial arsonist has roiled a small Los Angeles community, and authorities are asking for the public’s help identifying the suspect, KTLA reports.

The arsonist torched vehicles, garbage cans, and discarded furniture among other property in the Fairfax District, a community of around 13,000 sandwiched between La Brea and West Hollywood.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is investigating the incidents, which were reported June 7 between 3 and 5:30 a.m., the report said.

A classic Ford pickup truck on South Orange Drive was among the casualties of the arsonist, according to the report.

Evan Townsley, who owned the 1991 Ford F-150 truck, told the television station that he planned to pass it down to his son.

“You guys spent a lot of years back here as children, riding around, bouncing around,” Townsley told the television station.

“We had a lot of good years in this truck.”

Crews were already putting out the fire by the time Townsley noticed his truck was ablaze. He told the television station that crews were already in the area responding to other fires.

“This is gone,” Townsley said. “There’s nothing left, it’s not salvageable. It’s a mess. It’s disgusting, it’s sad and I don’t know why somebody would have it in their heart to do this to somebody else for no reason.”

The arsonist torched another car about a block away, according to the report.

“Wednesday morning, we woke up. My husband came outside to go to work and he said, ‘Oh, our side-view mirror is burnt off. I don’t know what happened,’” the victim, who asked not to be identified, told the television station.

“We couldn’t figure it out. Then I got an alert that the neighbor’s truck was torched, so I put things together and realized that we also were targeted.”

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Arson Investigation Unit at 213-485-6095.