Arsonist sets dozing woman’s room aflame

A Hayward woman awoke early this morning to find that someone had tried to set her bedroom on fire, a fire captain said.

The 38-year-old woman woke up to her neighbor screaming that her apartment at 24667 Amador St. was on fire shortly after 2:30 a.m., Hayward fire Capt. Don Nichelson said.

The woman had returned to her first-floor apartment between 12 and 1 a.m. and fallen asleep in another room of the apartment, Nichelson said.

While she was sleeping, someone apparently sprayed an accelerant through her open bedroom window and lit the vertical blinds on fire.

The fire luckily did not spread past the blinds, Nichelson said.

It damaged the window and screen but burned out before firefighters arrived, he said.

No one was injured in the blaze.

The police and fire departments are investigating the fire as an act of arson, Nichelson said.