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Southern Oregon Town On The Lookout For Serial Arsonist

Police in the southern Oregon city of Medford are on the lookout for a serial arsonist. Officials say someone is suspected of setting more than a dozen fires so far this month, including as many as four in one night.

So far no one's been injured in the blazes, which have mostly been set in alleyways next to houses. Medford Police Lieutenant Mike Budreau said the string of fires is unsettling.

"There's extreme concern from a lot of people in Medford and it's really kind of got everybody on edge because this suspect is just randomly targeting homes," he said.

Budreau says police have no suspects at the moment and have no visual description of the fire-setter. Police think the same person may also be to blame for a larger fire that destroyed a Medford warehouse in late June.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.