Fire investigators arrest Concord arson suspect

Investigators with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District have arrested a 40-year-old Concord man suspected to have intentionally set a dumpster fire that wound up engulfing an adjacent business.

The man, an unsheltered Concord resident, was arrested on suspicion of arson to a structure.

Investigators allege that in the early morning hours of April 8, the suspect was seen on surveillance video igniting cardboard and putting it in a dumpster before leaving the scene.

After crews arrived on scene to reports of a fire at a business in the 1500 block of Clayton Road, they determined the fire originated in the dumpster.

Concord police searched the area and found the man, whom fire investigators recognized from the surveillance video. He was taken into custody and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility.