A 76-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of intentionally setting a fire that damaged the roof of a Spring Valley strip mall, authorities said Wednesday.
The non-injury blaze was reported at 7:55 p.m. Tuesday near a closed 7- Eleven on Grand Avenue near Jamacha Boulevard, San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. William Amavisca said.
Deputies found a 76-year-old woman, who is a transient, nearby and arrested her on suspicion of arson, Amavisca said. Her name was not immediately available.
The woman said she was trying to extinguish a cigar on the ground using a Clorox bottle, but the bottle contained a flammable liquid, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
She also told deputies she had set several other small unreported fires, according to the newspaper.
Firefighters with San Diego Fire-Rescue, San Miguel Fire & Rescue and the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection District knocked down the fire, which damaged the exterior roofing of the strip mall and an electric vault to a communications tower, according to San Miguel Fire & Rescue.
–City News Service
