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By Portland Press Herald Staff Report April 11, 2008 03:40 PM

Portland police arrested a 19-year-old Portland man today in connection with last night's string of car arson fires.

Thomas Cassidy is charged with setting fire to one car, burglary to a car and carrying a concealed weapon, Police Chief Tim Burton announced at a news conference this afternoon.

Police said 10 cars were set on fire, and another nine were burglarized.

Cassidy is being held on $250,000 cash bail and has no known adult criminal history, police said.

Cassidy was stopped and questioned near one of the fires, and police took him in to custody based on witness interviews and items found in Cassidy's possession.

3:40 p.m.

Previous news:

Portland police and firefighters plan to hold a news conference this afternoon to discuss the investigation into nine car fires set early this morning.

The press conference, held jointly by Fire Chief Fred Lamontagne and Police Chief Tim Burton, will be held at the Portland Police Station at 3 p.m.

Portland police have been interviewing a “person of interest” who was detained as he was walking away from the scene of one of the fires, police said.

Meanwhile, fire investigators are examining the burnt cars for evidence that may link the fires to whoever set them.

Police have not said whether the man has been charged.

2:15 p.m.

Previous news:

An arsonist roamed the Portland peninsula in the pre-dawn hours today, setting nine cars on fire, including one that ignited a two-alarm blaze at an apartment house on Sherman Street, forcing an evacuation.

Portland police are questioning a “person of interest” whom they confronted as he was walking away from one of the fires, Ridge said this morning. The man has been detained as part of the investigation.

No one was injured in any of the fires, but the building at 141 Sherman St., near Deering Avenue, was heavily damaged, and residents will not be able to return immediately.

"We could have lost people in that one," said Deputy Police Chief William Ridge.

Police also evacuated apartment buildings at 108 and 112 Sherman St, which received minor damage from a burning car parked between them.

Another building at 443 Cumberland Avenue was singed by a burning car, said Deputy Fire Chief Fred Lamontagne.

The fires led police and firefighters on a dizzying chase from Parkside to the West End to the foot of High Street overlooking the waterfront - all in
the span of less than two hours.

"We’re pretty stretched right now," Ridge said. He said officers were out collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses and taking reports of damage to other vehicles that may have been vandalized but not burned.

The department also asked for help from the State Fire Marshal's Office.

"They’re providing us with additional investigators and a dog they they use to sniff out chemical fires," Ridge said.

Lamontage, the fire official, said fire departments from South Portland, Westbrook and Falmouth were called in to provide backup at Portland stations as well as respond to some of the fires directly.

In addition to the nine separate car fires at eight different locations set between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., police also are investigating damage to nine other cars that were vandalized but not burned in the same areas. The fires were set at Sherman Street, Cumberland Avenue, High Street, Park Avenue, Park Street, Danforth Street and Pleasant Street.

The most serious damage occurred at 141 Sherman St., where a six-unit building was ignited by the flames from a burning Honda Civic parked in the driveway about 2 feet away.

As flames consumed the Honda, thick smoke and the car's blaring horn and popping windows awakened several residents.

Among them was Walter Osorio, 35, who lives on the first floor of the burned Sherman Street building.

"I was sleeping, and the smoke woke me up," said Osorio, who speaks Spanish and talked through an interpreter. "I ran outside."

Leah Rogers lives on the second floor of the burned building with her 18-year-old daughter, a friend and his 6- year-old son.

Rogers heard the Honda's windows popping and saw light flickering in the apartment window, which she assumed was caused by a car's headlights.

"Then the car just went 'pow' and it blew up and the flames just came right up the side of the house," she said.

Rogers and her friend and his son pounded on doors as they made their way downstairs through a sulfury stench. They met a police officer on the sidewalk who directed firefighters inside to help Roger's daughter get out.

Lucy Weed, who owns the car and lives next door on the third floor of 139 Sherman St., said the sound of a car horn woke her up in the darkness.

"I opened my eyes and there was this light outside and I could hear the horn," said Weed, 21. "I looked out the window and saw the fire and called 9-11."

As heat from the burning car popped out its windows, Jake Pike, Weed's roommate, looked outside and saw flames creeping up the wall of the building near the car. He and Weed scooped up her cats and ran outside.

On the sidewalk, Pike looked down Sherman Street and saw another car burning in a driveway about a block to the east, at 108 Sherman St.

"That's when I knew someone was burning them," he said.

As the sun rose over Sherman Street this morning, the Parkside area was jammed with fire trucks, ambulances and police cruisers.

Yellow crime scene tape marked the burned Sherman Street address, and residents gaped from the sidewalk at the building's shattered windows and blackened wood siding.

Police brought in a Metro bus, where residents driven from their homes were sheltered from the early morning chill.

Nearby, the Salvation Army dispensed blankets and socks for those who fled their homes in bare feet.

Among them was Rich Pickford, who was up shortly after 4 a.m. when he heard a popping sound in the driveway, looked out and saw a sport utillity
vehicle going up in flames.

"I grabbed a couple buckets of water and threw it on, but it didn't do any good," he said. "The fire was hot and fast."

Everyone in Pickford's building, which has eight apartments, got out safely.

Pickford, shivering in his Salvation Army socks and black t-shirt, said he was aware that several cars had been torched around the city.

"That to me is more than just a prank," he said. "That's somebody trying to make a point."

Staff writer David Hench contributed to this report.