Medford Arsonist Has It In For Green Ford Escorts

An arsonist in Medford seems to be targeting early-to-mid 1990's green Ford Escorts.

There have been three fires set in similar cars in the past month.

The most recent one happened early Sunday morning, when a '95 green Escort was set on fire at a home on Kings Highway. Someone had broken a window and poured a flamable liquid inside before setting the car ablaze. The car was destroyed.

The same thing happed on Feb. 22 to a green '93 Escort parked at a home on North Columbus. It too, was destroyed. A possibly related fire had been set in the laundry room at an nearby apartment building on West Main a few days before.

The first green Escort fire reported to police was on Feb. 2. In that case a woman living on Dakota thought her '92 model had a flat tire, but when she looked closely saw that a plastic container of flamable liquid had been put next to the tire and set on fire.

Police say a man riding a bicycle was seen near the Kings Highway fire Sunday morning, but ran from officers and hid in the nearby neighborhood. Investigators aren't sure why he ran or or if he had anything to do with the fires. The only description available is a male wearing a dark puffy jacket and riding a mountain bike.

Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call Medford police at 541-774-2230 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-3-DETECT.