Man suspected of using phone book and matches to start fire outside Bellingham business
A man was cited for reckless burning after he allegedly used a phone book and matches to start a fire early Thursday outside a business near the intersection of Meridian Street and Bakerview Road. He was later found trespassing inside a nearby storage facility.
Bellingham police cited James Raymond Blum, 48, for second-degree reckless burning and first-degree trespassing, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Officers were notified at 9:46 a.m. Thursday by a business in the 4100 block of Meridian Street that an unknown man had started a small fire in one of the exterior hallways of the building, Murphy reported.
Surveillance video from approximately 12:29 a.m. Thursday showed a man, believed to be Blum, using a phone book and matches to start a fire. Blum appeared to sit near the fire and add pages to keep the fire going, Murphy reported.
Blum later walked away and the fire extinguished itself, after charring the side of the building but not setting it on fire, Murphy wrote.
As officers were investigating the fire, they were notified by a storage business in the 100 block of East Bakerview Road that employees located a man, who was not renting a storage unit, inside the business, Murphy wrote. After watching surveillance video from that incident, officers identified the man as Blum.
At approximately 11:44 a.m., officers spotted Blum on Meridian Street near Baker Street and cited him for both incidents.
