San Jose police arrest man linked to string of car fires

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- San Jose police have arrested a man connected to a string of recent car fires.

"I don't even know what was going on through my mind, it was like within a split second you know, I knew something bad was going on," said Sean Barron of San Jose.

Barron was cooking dinner when his brother rushed in screaming for help seeing two cars on fire.

"It was burning pretty good, we splashed some water on it, and then once we were almost done with that one, I turned around and there was another car on fire, and that one was totally engulfed in flames. Luckily we had a fire extinguisher and put it out," he said.

Barron's grandmother can't believe what happened either.

"I thought, if they hadn't reacted as quickly as they did, maybe we could have a larger fire here because the two cars on fire were pretty close to buildings," said Priscilla Dubinka.

Not long after, another vehicle fire broke out on Willow Street.

San Jose police identified, detained and arrested a man overnight for direct contact with that fire. He is also being questioned about seven other vehicle fires in San Jose and Campbell in the past week.

With a break in the case, neighbors hope the string of fires will finally stop.

"We just reacted, we wanted to get it out, before it got any worse," said Barron.

Dubinka says she is counting her blessings, as the year comes to an end. "You feel bad because why would anybody do this, it's somebody else's property, but at the same time you're thinking it's a car, you can replace it, but I was glad they were okay."