enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

A police officer interviews Lucy Weed, the owner of a Honda Civic, seen in the background, that was set on fire early Friday morning in Portland.

enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Firefighters and investigators look over cars at a Portland impound lot Friday. The cars were set on fire early Friday morning on the peninsula.

said.

Police brought in a Metro bus to shelter residents from the early morning chill. Nearby, the Salvation Army dispensed blankets and socks for those who fled their homes in bare feet.

Among them was Rich Pickford, who woke to find a sport utility vehicle going up in flames. "I grabbed a couple buckets of water and threw it on, but it didn't do any good," he said. "The fire was hot and fast."

Police also evacuated apartment buildings at 108 and 112 Sherman St., which sustained minor damage from a burning car parked between them. A building at 443 Cumberland Ave. was singed by a burning car, Fire Chief Frederick LaMontagne said.

The series of fires was unlike anything even the city's veteran firefighters had seen.

Deputy Fire Chief Michael Shutts was off duty when roused by the third-alarm page. As he pulled up to the scene of one fire, another was reported, and another.

"We were at one fire and we would look up and see the next fire They were that close," Shutts said.

He said in 24 years he had never responded to one fire after another, knowing that someone was setting them more quickly than they could be put out.

While Westbrook and Falmouth fire crews covered Portland's fire stations, a South Portland engine was directed to one of the car fires. On its way, it reported passing another fire.

Car fires can be put out easily, but when they spread to buildings, people's lives are endangered, said Deputy Chief Lawrence Libby.

Lt. Keith Gautreau was one of four firefighters sent to the roof of 141 Sherman St. to rip open sections that might be hiding smoldering hot spots. From there, as the eastern sky started to lighten toward day, they could see narrow columns of black smoke rising from the city.

"It was kind of a unique experience, being on the roof of a building on fire, looking at other columns of smoke," he said. The thin cylinders of smoke suggested other car fires, and its inky blackness meant a fire crew had yet to arrive, he said.

"At that point we were saying, 'Is this guy ever going to stop?' " Gautreau said.

The coming of dawn was a welcome sign, Shutts said. "When the sun's up, there's no way he's still going to be out there. The city is alive now, people are on the street. He'll get caught," Shutts said.

The third alarm summoned 10 off-duty firefighters and some off-duty command staff to complement the shift of 47 firefighters.

The car fires came just hours after LaMontagne and Burton held a news conference to discuss the impact of staff cuts in public safety.

LaMontagne said then that the Fire Department's priorities would remain protecting people and property, but that the department would be challenged by simultaneous incidents. He said Friday that the department would be able to respond to the fires much as it had, but said that type of episode would be a challenge for any city regardless of the size of its department.

Karl Ronhave stared at the burned-out husk of his brand new Toyota SUV, which he had owned for just two months.

He recalled waking to what sounded like an air-raid siren and then staring at the weird orange glow coming from the car's passenger compartment.

"I reached for my phone to call 911 and the engine exploded," he said. Flames climbed 10 feet in the air before firefighters, who already were in the neighborhood and responded within one minute, quickly doused the fire.

Ronhave said he wasn't afraid.

"I was just angry," he said. "I wish I found him myself," he said of the suspect, "but then I'd probably be in jail."

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at: dhench@pressherald.com

Staff Writer Dieter Bradbury can be contacted at 791-6329 or at: dbradbury@pressherald.com