Authorities have arrested a 28-year-old Little Rock man after firefighters responded to several fires, including one at his wife’s house, in the same neighborhood in about a 45-minute span Tuesday night.
Billy Ray Harrell faces four counts of felony arson after "numerous" eyewitnesses identified him as the person who lit four fires, causing more than $100,000 in combined damage, according to a Little Rock Police Department arrest report.
Harrell’s wife reportedly called emergency responders around 7:20 p.m. to her home in the 6900 block of Skywood Road, police said.
The wife told police that Harrell, who lives at a different address, came over and appeared to be drunk, according to the report. They argued before she told him to leave, and she went upstairs, the wife told police.
A short time later, she noticed smoke was coming from downstairs and she ran out of her home and phoned for help, the report said.
The wife told authorities that Harrell had fled from the scene. His description matched the suspect information given for several other fires reported in the area that stretched north of Cantrell Road and west of University Avenue in the Heights neighborhood, police said.
In addition to the Skywood Road blaze, fires were reported Tuesday night in the 6500 block of Brentwood Road, the 2100 block of Durwood Road and a wooded area near Kings Row Drive, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
The fires appeared "suspicious in nature" given the timeline and their proximity to one another, said Capt. Jason Weaver, a Fire Department spokesman, Tuesday evening.
No injuries were reported.
Harrell was arrested about 10:15 p.m. in the 7900 block of west Illinois Street, police said.
He remained in the Pulaski County jail Wednesday morning with bail not yet set.
