LONG BEACH, Calif.—A man was arrested Dec. 8 on suspicion of setting fire to multiple American Flags on display at several homes in Long Beach.
Firefighters were dispatched about 3:30 a.m. to a reported vehicle fire in the 2800 block of Iroquois Avenue, said Capt. Jack Crabtree of the Long Beach Police Department.
“We (firefighters) got on scene and calls came in of exterior fires on the same block,” Crabtree said. “Multiple homes had exterior fires that were burning. Some were out before we arrived.”
The vehicle fire—a convertible with a soft top—had been ignited initially by the burning of a flag at the Iroquois Avenue home, he said, adding that the vehicle fire was immediately extinguished.
Video footage from media reports shows a man walking up to the front door of a Long Beach home and setting an American flag on fire.
Details were still sketchy, fire investigators were called to the scene and, with the assistance of the Long Beach Police Department, a suspect was taken into custody at about 4 p.m.
It was not immediately known how many flags had been set on fire. Authorities have yet to release the name of the suspect or where he was arrested.
