[Archived] One Person Charged in Setting Apartment on Fire

Media Advisory

For immediate release: December 21, 2012

WHEN: December 21, 2012

WHERE: 900 block of Gibbon Street

WHO: Alexandria Fire Department

WHAT: Alexandria Fire Marshals and Police have charged a woman for setting several fires in an Alexandria apartment building. Beatrice Thompson, 20, a City resident, was arrested on Friday December 21. Thompson is being charged with one count of burning or destroying dwelling house while occupied.

At approximately 12:56am the Alexandria Fire Department responded to the 900 block of Gibbon Street for a reported apartment fire. Initial 911 calls reported a person setting fires in an apartment. Arriving firefighters encountered light smoke escaping through the front door of one of the apartments in a garden apartment building. An investigation of the scene by fire investigators determined that several fires had been set inside an occupied apartment. Thompson was stopped a short distance from the scene and later charged with setting the fires.

Damage to the apartment unit is estimated at $15,000. There were no reported injuries. One occupant of the apartment was relocated by the property management company to another unit. The incident remains under investigation.