A 43-year-old homeless woman was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of starting a fire in a row of 14 garages at an apartment complex in an unincorporated area bordering El Cajon on Thursday.
Firefighters from the Heartland, San Miguel, and Lakeside fire departments and deputies from the Lakeside Sheriff's Substation were sent to the 400 block of East Bradley Avenue, between state Route 67 and Mollison Avenue, Thursday around 9:30 p.m. regarding multiple reports about an apartment fire, according to Detective Dan Wilson of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Bomb/Arson Unit.
Mavis Williams was identified Friday as the suspect. She and several other homeless persons were living in the garage where the fire broke out, Wilson said.
Williams left the scene before investigators returned to the location, Wilson said.
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The garages were on the property but were detached from the apartment complex, SDSO wrote in a press release on Friday.
The fire took more than an hour to extinguish, Wilson said. Footage from the scene shows the cars and garages destroyed from the flames.
Detectives from the unit were requested to investigate the cause and origin of the fire. They identified the garage where it started.
Local
Just before 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, the sheriff's department received a call on the whereabouts of the suspect. A deputy from the Lakeside Sheriff's Substation responded to the tip at the 700 block of E. Bradley Avenue in Unincorporated El Cajon, which is where Williams was found.
Detectives told NBC 7 Wilson admitted to causing the fire after they arrested her without incident on Sunday.
She has been booked into the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility on charges of recklessly causing a fire, the department said.
Correction: The headline has been updated to reflect the apartment complex is in East County, not El Cajon, as the address is located in unincorporated San Diego County.
