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Early Thursday morning blazes that burned a police car, a power pole and an apartment complex under construction in Orem were intentionally set, authorities say.
The first fire was reported in the parked Provo police cruiser, about 3 a.m. at 420 S. State St. No one was inside the vehicle, however.
About an hour later, police and firefighters responded to the pole and the Sun Canyon Villas apartment fires, finding them fully engulfed in flames and billowing smoke. Crews were still dousing hot spots shortly before noon, but arson investigators, aided by accelerant-sensitive dogs, were able to inspect the scene.
"The preliminary results [of the investigation] are in, and [the apartments] fire is being ruled arson. Also, the vehicle fire previous to this has also been ruled an arson," said Orem Fire Capt. Ryan Peterson.
No injuries were reported at the scene. Crews from Orem and neighboring Provo and Pleasant Grove worked to hem in and extinguish the fires by 6 a.m.
Peterson said preliminary estimates put damage well in excess of $1 million.
Flames not only spread into the apartment construction area but burned power lines, triggering an outage that initially left more than 5,200 Rocky Mountain Power customers without electricity. Arson investigators believe the vehicle, pole and apartments fires all were set by the same person or persons. They also were looking into possible links to another arson blaze in December, in which a condominium project went up in flames a few blocks away.
Twitter: @remims