INDIANAPOLIS — Artie Person was up early playing his Xbox Tuesday morning when he heard his building's smoke detectors.
"I opened the door, seen the smoke and the fire detectors going off and there was a lady already out there talking about, 'There’s a fire going on,'" said Person, who ran to see where the flames were coming from. "In the laundry room, there was a big old fire going on in the sink."
Person said he and a neighbor quickly came up with a plan.
"The lady had a pitcher, and she was running back and forth with it. I took it one time and took it into the apartment, filled it up, took it back out there," said Person. "After that, we turned the sink on and everything else to put the fire out. After that, we go looking for the guy. We go building to building to the laundry rooms, because I knew what he looked like."
Person said the suspect had been sleeping in the laundry room on and off for a few months. He said neighbors would often check on him and bring him food.
"It's crazy that he would do that, being that he slept here so many times," said Person.
Tuesday morning, he pointed the suspect out to police who was at a gas station across the street.
"He was just standing there looking at the apartments, looking back over here," said Person. "No reaction, just standing there."
Police said when they arrested the suspect, they found him in possession of four lighters, a book of matches, a device used to break protective glass of a fire extinguisher and a metal bracket possibly belonging to a fire extinguisher, which was missing from the laundry room.
"Thankfully it didn't get that big," said Person. "We caught it before it got out of the sink."
The suspect has also been charged with a misdemeanor for setting firewood ablaze at this south side gas station in July.
He was also convicted of setting an east side liquor store on fire in August.
Court documents show he took a plea deal and was released from custody in September. He was arrested again in October for violating probation in that case, but was released days later.
The suspect is now facing a preliminarily charge of arson endangering human life. He's due in court Monday morning.
Person is just thankful he was awake when it happened when the fire was lit around 5:30 a.m.
"We were just thinking about all the different possibilities that could've happened," he said. "I barely could sleep last night because of it."
Increase in arsons
Arsons have kept IFD very busy this year.
Earlier this month, the department reported intentional fires were up almost 16 percent from the total all of last year.
At least 175 fires this year were intentionally set, according to the department. That's 44% of all the fires IFD put out this year.
Working with IMPD, they have made 19 arson arrests this year.