Woman arrested for alleged arson

By Vanessa Gongora

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    TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — The Tucson Fire Department (TFD) stayed busy Monday battling a couple fires throughout Tucson.

A downstairs apartment was completely destroyed at the Midtown on 2nd apartments located on 2nd Street and Richey Blvd.

TFD was dispatched at 3:56 p.m. and the fire was declared under control at 4:09 p.m.

According to the Tucson Police Department (TPD), it was an alleged arson and a woman was arrested.

The residents in the nearby apartments were evacuated and the gas was turned off in the building.

Ron Mitchell was visiting friends at the complex and says he was there when the flames went up.

“I smelled something and walked over and I looked in. It was one big flame. It was just intense,” Mitchell said.

He says the woman arrested for arson admitted she started the fire on purpose.

“She was straight forward. She was like, yeah I did it. You know I got these *******. Like that’s how she was acting. It was crazy,” Mitchell said.

According to TFD, one resident was displaced and no one was injured.

Within five minutes of this fire, TFD received another call at 4 p.m. to a fire in the Westside at Flooring Outlet by Carpet One located on Grant and Silverbell Rd.

TFD says when they arrived, the bulk of the fire was put out by the store’s sprinkler system.

Firefighters put out the remaining flames in the ceiling above an office space.

The fire was declared under control at 4:19 p.m.

TFD says according to the owner, $3 million worth of merchandise was inside and not damaged thanks to the sprinkler system doing its job.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

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