EVERETT – An Everett man has been arrested, accused of trying to burn down an apartment building twice in the same day.
The 21-year-old man was jailed for investigation of two counts of arson, Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant said Friday. He had been staying in the building, but was recently kicked out.
Witnesses told police they saw the man carrying a gas can and matches toward the small building in the 2900 block of Hoyt Avenue about 2 p.m. Thursday. Minutes later, a fire broke out in the stairwell between the first and second floors.
Another fire had scorched a third-floor landing just an hour earlier.
Both fires were extinguished before they did serious damage. No one who lived in the building was injured.
The building’s landlord, Marysville resident Gene Cross, 71, discovered the first fire while he was making repairs in some of the rooms.
“As I walked up to the second-floor landing, I started smelling smoke,” Cross said. “I looked up, and the whole third-floor landing was on fire.”
On Friday afternoon, the stairwell between the first two floors was coated with soot and reeked of gasoline.
There was a charred, crispy mound of gray paint at the top of the stairs to the third floor. Dry pine needles were piled up on the carpet inside a vacant room. The pine needles weren’t there on Wednesday, Cross said.
Everett police continue to investigate.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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