BLADENSBURG, Md. (AP) -- Arson investigators on the scene of an apartment fire Tuesday said it was likely the work of a serial arsonist who has now struck 45 times in the Washington, D.C., region.
The fire broke out just before 5 a.m. in the stairwell of a four-unit building at the Hilltop Manner Apartments.
Upstairs residents in the two-story building were hanging out their windows when firefighters arrived, said Mark Brady, spokesman for Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department. Two residents drove themselves to the hospital with minor smoke inhalation.
The front door to the building was unlocked because a key pad had not yet been wired, said John Darby, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex.
The time of the fire, the occupied building and the use of an ignitable liquid all pointed to the serial arsonist, Brady said.
Arson Task Force investigators interviewed witnesses, surveyed the damage and took fingerprints. Brady said damage to the stairwell totaled about $5,000 to $10,000.
It was the first time the serial arsonist struck since a Sept. 23 fire in Wheaton, Md., in Montgomery County. He is also suspected of starting fires in the District of Columbia and northern Virginia. Most of the fires have been at single family homes and only a handful were at apartments. A June 5, 2003, D.C. blaze killed an elderly woman.
``It's totally random,'' Brady said. ``There's no rhyme or reason we can tell at this point for his targets.''
The regional Arson Task Force is offering a $35,000 reward for information that helps solve the case.
``Somebody out there knows something about the individual involved,'' Brady said. ``We need to hear about it.''
