Fremont police arrest man suspected of serial arson

FEMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- Fremont police announced they've arrested the man they believe is a serial arsonist.

He's charged with arson in two fires but may be responsible for more than a dozen others.

Cory Minhas, 30, was arrested last Friday, just 24 hours after a fire was intentionally set literally across the street from his home off of Warm Springs Boulevard.

RELATED: Fremont firefighters search for possible serial arsonist

"I would never thought he'd actually be in the neighborhood. I thought it would be a transient, or something like that," said neighbor Joel Olivares.

Since July, 16 intentionally set fires in the area have terrorized neighbors. An arsonist torched dumpsters, bushes, trees and fences in the densely packed residential area, resulting in fires that almost consumed homes like Cathy Nguyen's.

"I'm really happy. It's going to stop and prevent it from happening to anyone else," Nguyen said.

Police went door to door, intent on tracking down the arsonist.

"Surveillance cameras, we used a canine trailing dog, we used surveillance techniques. We had a lot of officers devoted a lot of time to this, for sure," said Sgt. Ricardo Cortes of the Fremont police Department.

Minhas was arrested soon after the 16th fire was set. He faces two counts of arson right now but detectives are still collecting evidence on the other 14 fires.