Arson suspect arrested at fire scene near police substation

Calexico Police arrested an arson suspect believed tied to other arson cases in the area.

50-year-old Francisco Mariscal, a local homeless man, is behind bars on suspicion of being involved in a series of arson fires in Calexico.

Calexico Detective Armando Orozco said, “They found a trash can on fire on the 100 th block of Paulin in the alleyway. Fire fighters were called out and they quickly extinguished the fire.”

Mariscal was arrested in downtown where the fire took place next to a busy fast-food restaurant and bus station on Tuesday, January 29 th around 1:30 p.m.

“Luckily, one of the local businesses had a video camera pointing out in the alleyway to watch their parking lot, and we were able to recover a video of the incident and have a description of the suspect when he actually set the fire,” Orozco said.

“It’s believed he used a butane hand torch that was found in his pant pockets at the time of his arrest,” Orozco said.

A police substation is just across the street from where the fire was set.

“He was shortly arrested right after the fire and was transported to imperial county jail,” Orozco said.

Police said the fires Mariscal is believed to have set are extremely dangerous.

“Very serious. Any fire can quickly get out of control and cause other than damages to what’s burning itself, can quickly spread and cause further damage to other property itself,” Orozco said.

Mariscal is charged with arson and destruction of private property. If convicted, Mariscal could face up to three years in county jail.