Arsonist Starts at Least 14 Fires in Oak Cliff

Residents of Oak Cliff's Winnetka Heights neighborhood said they want the person who started at least 14 fires this week caught.

The small fires have burned trashcans and leaves. Several have spread and burned fences and, in one case, burned a garage, damaging a car.

"There's been a rash of car fires before, so you just don't know what they will burn," resident Phil Cardner said.

Someone burned both of his trashcans earlier in the week.

Annie Muller, who lives down the street from Cardner, said she at first thought it was kids playing a prank.

"Now that it's been several days in a row, I feel like it's pretty deliberate, and it's malicious," she said.

Residents said the arsonist usually hits in the early morning and then in the early afternoon.

Muller said she sits on her porch to keep an eye out.

She said she's afraid that dry, dead leaves and wind will spread one of the fires to one of the neighborhood's old, historic homes.

"In the last couple of days, more and more leaves have fallen, and then the wind is picking them up. I don't even want cigarettes anywhere, you know?" Muller said.

Arson detectives are investigating the cases.

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