Portland police are investigating a series of trash fires set early Tuesday morning in the East Deering section of the city.

Police say all six fires were put out quickly by the Portland Fire Department and that nobody was hurt and no property damaged.

The first fire was reported at 1:50 a.m. when trash at 970 Baxter Boulevard was ignited. Twenty-five minutes later, a pile of discarded Christmas trees was set afire in Payson Park, police said.

Four other trash fires were discovered at about 3:25 a.m., at 2 West Presumpscot St., 500 Washington Ave., 9 Veranda St., and 15 Randall St.

“On the surface, it’s just a small little trash fire, but they can tend to lead to other things, when dumpsters or trash cans are up against buildings,” said Assistant Fire Chief Keith Gautreau. In this case, none of the fires set Tuesday morning were closer than 25 feet to a building, he said.

The fires came in so rapidly, the department had to dispatch additional units to that area of the city, he said. At that point, firefighters become concerned that a serial arsonist is at work and that the fires could escalate in severity, he said.

Police ask that anyone with information about Tuesday’s fires call 874-8533.

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