San Jose

Man arrested for allegedly starting a fire in San Jose, police say

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A man was arrested after he allegedly started a fire in San Jose on Tuesday, police say.

The incident was one of the many fires that happened in San Jose on Tuesday.

One of the fires on Tuesday started along Berryessa Road at around 9 a.m. About two hours later, three larger ones happened near Watson Park and Highway 101.

“I saw a bunch of black smoke. It was above this area here, a lot of black smoke," Hannah Tuli of San Jose said.

Police said the call came in as a report of multiple fires being set by someone, an officer found the suspect as they were trying to light another fire. The man was taken into custody.

Investigators are now looking into which fires the man could be connected to. There have been a number of fires in the South Bay this month.

One of the most recent fires happened on Jun.16, when crews put out a vegetation fire near Highway 101 at Oakland Road. Another fire happened Monday near Highway 85 and Santa Teresa. Both fires kicked out lots of smoke, putting firefighters at risk and homes and schools in danger.

The fires on Tuesday happened near a field and Empire Gardens Elementary School.

“We were going to take our great grandson to his little preschool, that was all blocked right there,” said San Jose resident Linda Abundiz.

Firefighters worked quickly to control the blaze. At around 5 p.m. Tuesday, crews were still putting out hot spots.

“For someone to do this, it’s just wrong. This is our community, we take care of it,” Tuli said.

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