Man charged with arson of Blaine home

By KSTP

Michael Joseph Bourgeois (Anoka County Jail)

A Blaine man has been charged with arson in connection to a fire that damaged a home Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning.

Michael Joseph Bourgeois, 23, is charged with two counts of first-degree arson, court documents show.

A criminal complaint states Blaine police were called to a home on Lincoln Street Northeast, near 107th Lane, just before 2 p.m. Wednesday on a report of a fire. While en route, officers were told that two neighbors were talking when they saw a man walk into the backyard of a neighboring home and throw something through a window, starting a fire.

One of the neighbors ran after the man while the other neighbor called 911 and tried to get a garden hose to extinguish the fire, the complaint adds.

When officers arrived, they found Bourgeois walking on 108th Avenue Northeast and detained him. The neighbors then identified him as the man who’d started the fire and also apparently placed a jug of some liquid on the windowsill and started it on fire.

Police said a large lighter was found in the backyard of the affected home.

Fighterfighters were again called to the home just before 3 a.m. Thursday and found flames coming from the roof. Crews are working to determine if the fire from Wednesday afternoon rekindled.