ARSONIST SUSPECTED IN D.C., MD., VA.:

Members of the Arson Task Force are investigating a recent Fairfax County house fire to see if it was the work of the Washington region’s serial arsonist. Firefighters were called to a single family home in the county’s Huntington section early this month. No one was home and there were no injuries. About an hour after county fire investigators arrived, a decision was made to alert the task force that is investigating dozens of other cases. “It’s still at the very initial stages of the investigation. So at this point it’s too soon to say anything as far as any type of linkage to the serial arsonist,” said Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF is among the member agencies of the task force. The Arson Task Force is already investigating thirty-nine cases dating to March 8, 2003. Most are in the District of Columbia and neighboring Prince George’s County, Md., but there are two earlier cases in Fairfax County from February and May of this year. There are also cases in Alexandria, Va., and Montgomery County, Md.