Morgan Hill police said they’ve arrested a suspected serial arsonist Tuesday.
Daniel Catano, 32, is accused of setting several brush, wooden fence and dumpster fires in Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
Police said he confessed to as many as 15 fires, most of them over the last week.
Investigators said the biggest fire he’s connected to was at a housing development under construction on Depot Street in downtown Morgan Hill.
Michelle Apolinar lives across the street from the construction site and was evacuated with her three kids the night of that fire in late June.
“It was pretty scary and my kids for the next couple days were really scared about it too. All they knew was fire,” she said.
Her and her neighbors are glad someone was caught.
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“The fact that we kept hearing it going on the next couple days, fires everywhere, I’m just relieved that we won’t be having that problem anymore,” said Apolinar.
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The two cities say there have been 30 suspicious fires in recent months, 20 of them were started in July, which prompted Gilroy police to put out pictures of a suspect they now say is Catano.
A community member spotted him Tuesday morning and called police, that's when they arrested him.
So far, he faces 14 counts of arson.
“We’re concerned his actions would’ve continued to escalate and who knows what would’ve happened especially as we start really heading into fire season,” said Scott Purvis of the Morgan Hill Police Department.
Catano is due in court Thursday. He’s being held at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas. His bail is set at $1 million.
“And it’s just a relief that they found somebody and that our community and our cities can be safer,” said Jayme Valdoz of Gilroy.
