Fire downbtown

This fire on Jan. 28 was the first in a series of suspicious fires under investigation in the downtown area.

Taft Police are asking for the public's assistance for information related to ongoing investigations into a series of fires in the downtown area over the past month.

The most recent fire took place early Thursday at a church at Fourth and Main streets.

The fire was reported at 1:17 a.m. behind the Asamblea Apostolica De La Fe En Christo Jesus.

It was at least the third suspicious fire in the area since Jan. 28.

The first broke out on the second floor of the Parish-O'Brien building at 401 Center.

The fire damaged one or two rooms of the vacant, boarded up building.

On Feb. 8 a much more destructive fire broke out at about 8:30 p.m. in a vacant, boarded up structure next to the Parish-O'Brien building.

The fire gutted that building and damaged one next two it. Two more buildings sustained damage when firefighters forced entry to seek if the fire had spread.

One person of interest was detained by Taft Police but released without being charged after questioning by KCFD arson investigators.

Police are following up on leads on all of the fires, but are seeking help from the public.

Anyone with information on any of the fires is encouraged to contact Taft police at (661) 763-3101, or an anonymous tip may be submitted to the Taft Police Department (report a concern) on the City of Taft website at www.cityoftaft.org.