ATLANTIC CITY - Fire officials are investigating whether a series of fires near North Iowa Avenue is the work of an arsonist.
The department has had more than three similar fires within the area in the past few months, Fire Chief Dennis Brooks said Thursday.
The most recent was on the 100 block of North Iowa Avenue at about 1:45 a.m., where a patrol officer extinguished the fire, Brooks said. The residents, who were home at the time, did not know there was a fire outside. It was right next door to the scene of a similar fire in February. All the fires have started with debris burning by a home.
"We believe a pattern is starting to emerge here," Brooks said. "We've had a couple of these debris fires, all against the house."
He said that there appears to be no connection to a shed fire on the the 2700 block of Arctic Avenue -- a couple of blocks away -- that happened early Wednesday morning.
"We haven't determined a definitive cause there, but that doesn't look suspicious," Brooks said.
Fire personnel has been going door to door in the neighborhood to warn residents not to have anything combustible next to their homes, Brooks said.
