Tacoma police arrest 42-year-old woman suspected in string of arsons throughout the city

Tacoma police arrested a 42-year-old woman Friday afternoon who they suspect of being a serial arsonist who started more than a dozen fires throughout the city Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

The woman was arrested at a residence in Tacoma without incident and booked into jail, the Tacoma Police Department said in a news release. Police did not specify charges.

“Multiple facets of our department were focused on these arsons in an effort to get a suspect in custody before someone was hurt,” department spokesperson Wendy Haddow said.

Fire investigators have been looking into 11 fires set in one night in Tacoma that were suspected to be arson and one fire set in Ruston the same night suspected to be arson.

Most of the fires were set in Central Tacoma and northern areas of the city at residential structures with people inside. No one was injured in the fires.

And on Thursday, Tacoma police said investigators were looking into three more suspicious fires. Those fires, however, were set in much different areas of the city and did not target structures with people inside.