CHICAGO --
A 23-year-old man has been charged Saturday with arson after allegedly starting a fire on the South Side early Friday.
Police officers allegedly saw the man pouring gasoline on the back porch of a two-flat in a fire that spread to another building because of windy conditions early Friday. No one was hurt.
Frederick Stewart, of the 5000 block of South Throop Street, was charged with two counts of aggravated arson stemming from two fires Friday, police spokeswoman JoAnn Taylor said.
Apparently Stewart was approached by officers near the scene of the fires and attempted to flee. Stewart was apprehended without incident on the 5400 block of South Shields Street, Taylor said.
The first fire broke out about 4:20 a.m. on the back porch of a vacant, frame two-flat in the 5400 block of S. Shields Avenue, and because of high winds, spread to the roof of another two-flat that was occupied in the 5300 block of S. Princeton Avenue, according to police Sgt. James Egan.
Firefighters responded at 4:27 a.m. to the Shields address for a working fire in the rear, back porch area, according to fire spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez.
Two hoses were used to extinguish the fire on the top floor of the Princeton address at 4:50 a.m., according to Rodriguez. No one was hurt or taken to hospitals in either fire, she said.
The Princeton address is ??across the alley and down the street a little,???? from the Shields address, according to the sergeant.
A man, who was in custody, was seen by Deering District police officers allegedly ??pouring gasoline all over the back porch and [he] lit it on fire,???? Egan said. ??It was an arson,???? he said, but investigators are unclear as to the motive.
The Shields structure sustained heavy damage and the Princeton building sustained ??minimal?? damage to its roof, the sergeant said.
Copyright 2007, Sun-Times News Group
