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JAY CRIDLINA quiet street has been the scene of four suspicious fires at two homes.
Frank and Florence Renner have lived about 90 years, 70 of them as husband and wife.
Yet even they are a little shaken by the recent rash of arsons near their home.
"We have been worried about it," says Florence, 89.
"Wouldn't you be if it happened next door?" asked Frank, 92.
For the Renners and other residents along Forest Hills Drive in Brandon, the sound of sirens on their street has become increasingly common.
On March 3, a house at 707 Forest Hills burned down in what fire investigators think was an arson. Just a month earlier, another arson caused $10,000 in damage to the same property.
Both arsons came after a home at 710 Forest Hills - almost directly across the street from the scene of last week's fire - was gutted during a November fire. The Fire Marshal's Office launched an arson investigation into that fire and an earlier fire at the same address.
No one was hurt in any of the fires. Deputy Hillsborough County Fire Marshal Frank Fernandez said the incidents do not appear to be related, and no other fires in that neighborhood are under investigation for arson.
Still, residents wonder what's going on. David Gillespie, who lives at 704 Forest Hills, said he's shocked to see so many fires on such an otherwise quiet street.
"This doesn't happen every day," said Gillespie, 23. "I'm the loudest person around here, and I'm not that loud."
Like the Renners, who live with their daughter at 709 Forest Hills, Bob Ethridge lives squarely between the two fires, at house 708.
"I spent 23 years in the Army, and I've been here since 1995, and this is definitely the worst luck I've seen and had," said Ethridge, 47. "Do we have some idiot around here that is getting his jollies out of burning houses?"
Investigators have interviewed several suspects, but no arrests have been made. Anyone with information about the fires is encouraged to call the Fire Marshal's Office at 744-5541. There is a reward of up to $2,500.
Andrew Balser, who lived at 707 Forest Hills but was not home at the time of either blaze, says he's not sure who might be at fault.
"Obviously, whoever tried to burn it down the first time wasn't satisfied," said Balser, 39. "I have nobody that I know that's angry with me to that point."
Since the most recent fire, Ethridge said he has spoken with several neighbors about forming a kind of neighborhood watch for any suspicious activity.
"Whoever it was, they definitely wanted that house burnt," he said. "It makes you a little nervous."
- Jay Cridlin can be reached at 661-2442 or cridlin@sptimes.com