Arrest in connection to EB car fire investigation

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The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District  revealed that an arrest has been made in connection to the recent string of suspicious car fires across the county.

Around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, officials arrested a 36-year-old man in a residential area of Benicia. The suspect appeared to have possibly set a fire in a nearby driveway.

He was taken into custody without incident and has been charged with 43 charges related to arson. His bail is set at $3.1 million.

The suspect's name has not yet been released. 

There have been 7 suspicious car fires in Contra Costa County this week alone.

Two cars were burned early Friday morning.

The first fire was reported at 2:06 a.m. Friday on the 1100 block of Juanita Drive in Walnut Creek.

Eleven minutes later, authorities received a call about a Toyota Highlander being torched. The call came in at 2:17 a.m. Friday, on the 1100 block of Crescenta Court in Lafayette.

The vehicles were parked on the street, and not in the driveways, as in the case of past car fires.

There were no injuries, as firefighters were able to extinguish the flames, before they spread to nearby homes.

These were the sixth and seventh car fires in Contra Costa County in the past week.

Investigators said there had been about 10 suspicious car fires dating back to January, before the two fires early Friday morning.

There have been recent fires in Brentwood, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, and Martinez.

Investigators have been scanning home surveillance videos, in hopes of finding clues.

Authorities said they wanted to catch the serial arsonist, before the fires start injuring people.