Suspicious fires ignite major California freeway shut down by arson last year

(The Center Square) - A series of fires with “potentially suspicious starts” disrupted traffic on a busy California freeway near where an enormous fire shut down that same freeway for days last year.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said there were several fires near one small section of the I-10 freeway between the ocean and downtown Los Angeles, and, according to KTLA, called the fires “suspicious” without outright calling them arson.

Last year, items stored under the same freeway burned so hot the freeway — which connects Los Angeles’ job centers to its far-flung housing — was shut down for eight days.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed arson for that fire and issued a surveillance photograph of a person of interest, but no announcement was ever made on whether or not the culprit was caught or the results of the final investigation.

City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s office did not respond to a request for information on the 2023 case by the time of publication.

The Los Angeles Fire Department estimates that 80% of fires downtown and 54% citywide that it responds to are caused by homeless individuals.