L.A. fire officials declared Monday that the seven fires in Griffith Park over the last three weeks were deliberately set, and investigators are trying to determine whether they are dealing with a single serial arsonist.
Fire officials believe the person or people who set the fire were on foot or in a vehicle, perhaps posing as bicyclists or hikers to blend with the park crowd, said Rosa Tufts, a Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator.
"The one consistent item that we've seen is that all the fires are being set by the roadside," Tufts told The Times. "This is definitely a crime of opportunity."
The string of fires, culminating with five small fires in remote sections of the park Saturday afternoon, have put nearby Los Feliz residents and longtime park users on edge.
"We're just reeling from this, to be honest with you," said Bernadette Soter, a member of the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council. "There seems to be a pattern here. We just don't know what's behind the pattern. How do you control an arsonist?"
Soter said her neighbors were calling for more park rangers to patrol less-traveled areas of the park.
On Monday, fire officials said they had added patrols but were surprised to see so many blazes ignite at the park in just a few weeks.
"In recent history, this is the most amount of fires in such a short period" in the park, said Senior Arson Investigator David Liske, a 26-year veteran.
Investigators said Saturday's five fires near the Travel Town railroad museum were probably set by the same person, but the fires on Aug. 4 and July 27 could be the work of others.
Fire officials have not released suspect descriptions in connection with the recent fires because no sightings have been reported, Tufts said. On Saturday, police detained a bicyclist, but he was later released.
Investigators have no evidence of what was used to start the fires. Tufts said they do not believe the fires were set as campfires by recreational park visitors or homeless campers because they burned in areas the homeless do not frequent, and because no trash or clothing was found nearby.
The Aug. 4 blaze burned three acres in the northeast corner of the park near Mineral Wells Trail and was brought under control in an hour and a half.
The July 27 fire burned 25 acres, prompted the evacuation of thousands from the Los Angeles Zoo and briefly threatened a breeding center for endangered California condors.
