ORLANDO, Fla. – Firefighters were busy into the early morning hours Monday when fires broke out in three separate homes all within two miles of each other in Orlando. Investigators believe it is the work of a serial arsonist and are searching for a suspect.
The first fire started around 10:30 p.m. Sunday on East Washington St. and fours hours later firefighters rushed to a second fire two miles north of the first on Montana St. At around 4:15 a.m., a third house only four blocks away from the second went up in flames.
Nick Sharabba, who lives near the third house that caught fire on Pine Grove Ave., said a loud noise woke him up early in the morning. He walked outside to see the neighboring house on fire.
"I heard a loud explosion of some sort, like a boom – it shook my house," Sharabba said.
He says he could feel the heat, when he walked outside to take a photo of the adjacent house engulfed in flames.
Orlando firefighters say one thing all the fires have in common was that they appeared to be set outside of the homes.
"It's unlikely that coincidences like this occur with this short amount of time with these very similar structures," a fire official said.
All three homes were vacant and there were no injuries reported.
According to firefighters, a similar situation occurred less than two weeks ago.
Special investigators are looking for motives, searching for connections between the properties and trying to identify witnesses.
Investigators say they have some leads and are looking at surveillance video from a bank near one of the homes. They hope it will lead them to a suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.