Suspect returned to scene of arson in downtown Tacoma, police say. She’s been arrested

Police arrested a 34-year-old woman Sunday who they said returned to the scene of an arson in downtown Tacoma.

Crews responded to a fire about 6:45 a.m. Saturday in the 300 block of East 26th Street.

Investigators determined the fire was set intentionally, and police released surveillance footage of a suspect.

About 10:45 a.m. Sunday, “the suspect returned and was seen accessing a restricted area behind the same business,” police said in a news release Sunday evening. “Members of the Tacoma Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff’s Department responded quickly and took the thirty-four-year-old female suspect into custody without incident.”

They booked her into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of second-degree burglary and possession of stolen property in an unrelated mater.

The arson investigation is ongoing, the news release said.

The Tacoma Fire Department has responded to between seven and nine fires in the past week that could have been set intentionally, spokesperson Chelsea Shepherd told The News Tribune on Saturday.

Police said Saturday it wasn’t clear if the East 26th Street fire was linked to the other arsons in the area, which were set along Dock Street, Puyallup Avenue and in Fife .

The Tacoma Fire Department did say in a social media post Saturday that the East 26th Street Fire was “very similar to a previous arson-related fire at the same location.”

Shepherd told The News Tribune that the first suspicious fire occurred July 12. The building has an apartment upstairs, she told The News Tribune.

No one was inside the space Saturday because it was uninhabitable after the previous blaze.

“In response to the increase in reported arsons, the Tacoma Police Department will be staffing emphasis patrols throughout the city,” police said in a news release Saturday.

News Tribune archives contributed to this report.