EL CAJON, Calif. (KGTV) — Authorities said the suspect involved in a fire that happened Thursday night in the unincorporated area of El Cajon has been identified, but is at-large.
A press release from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said the fire happened just before 9:30 p.m. when the agency received multiple fire calls at an apartment complex in the 400 block of E. Bradley Avenue.
Lakeside Sheriff's Substation deputies and Heartland, San Miguel and Lakeside Fire Department crews responded to the incident within minutes, according to the release.
When they arrived, crews found a row of 14 garages on the property engulfed in flames. The release said the garages were detached from the apartment complex itself, and it took more than an hour for crews to extinguish the fire.
Sheriff's Bomb/Arson unit detectives were also on scene to investigate the cause and origin of the fire and found the garage where the fire started, the release said.
Detectives also identified Mavis Williams as the suspect who started the fire. She and several other unhoused people lived in that garage when the fire broke out, according to the press release.
Currently, the sheriff's department is looking for Williams. She is wanted for arrest for unlawfully and recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. Williams is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with any information on Williams' whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477, and a reward of up to $1,000 is offered for information that leads to an arrest.
