Arson Fires Plague Bloomington Neighborhood

Arson fires are keeping a Bloomington neighborhood awake at night.

There have been eight suspicious fires in the neighborhood since Memorial Day.

The side of one home was charred when an arson fire was started in a garbage can. While the fire department saved the house, the arsonist succeeded on one level by filling neighbors with fear.  

Kurt Elsen has lived in the area for 25 years. He says the neighborhood is watching. "We've got people that tell us all the time they see people go by and see cars ... different people go up and down the street. We're letting the police know."

Police are watching too. They've stepped up patrols down Oakland, Portland and Park where the fires have occurred.

People have been staying up late at night. They've been doing their own patrols. What concerns everyone is that the targets of the arsonist are getting bigger and bigger. They started smaller - first a shed fire, then car fires, fires in garbage cans, but now they've gotten more serious and more recently a house was torched. The inside was gutted.

So far, nobody has been hurt. To keep it that way, police need to catch the person responsible. They're hoping maybe you've seen something, or know someone who might be able to solve these crimes.

If you have information, there are four ways you can submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers.