Man accused of setting fires in Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs police have arrested a homeless man who investigators say started a string of grass fires over the weekend.

Police said Manual Rascon, 68, was initially spotted at the first fire burning in the 3000 block of W. Colorado Avenue on the city’s west side. Then, three days later, officers spotted him at a fourth fire in that same area. Police said at that point, they had enough evidence against Rascon to arrest him.

Lt. Catherine Buckley said arson cases can be tough to crack, but Rascon’s presence at two scenes helped narrow down investigators’ search for a suspect.

“There are just a lot of challenges because the very nature of fires is that it consumes some of the evidence that is there at the scene,” said Buckley.

Last week, investigators responded to two different fires near Colorado Avenue. Investigators determined a grass fire that threatened structures at W. Uintah Street and N. 19th Street Wednesday morning was started by an arsonist.

On Wednesday afternoon, firefighters responded to a grass fire burning on Launcelot Court.

Donald Liby’s fence and part of his home were damaged from the flames in the Launcelot Court Court fire. Police said they cannot determine if Rascon is linked to the fire, but are looking into it.

“There may be some pretty dangerous people moving around this area. I hope they don’t get what they are looking for. Whatever it is,” said Liby.

Buckley said investigators will also look into Rascon’s possible connection to fires on 8th Street in Colorado Springs.

“We haven’t been able to tie this individual into those. It’s something we are looking into obviously. And there are also other smaller fires that occurred near 8th Street that we are trying to take a look at to see if this fits the same pattern,” said Buckley.

Rascon faces two counts of second-degree arson. Buckley said Rascon is homeless and moved down here from Denver.