An apparent attempted arson outside a local woman's apartment late Tuesday is under investigation by the Hot Springs Fire Department.
The woman was able to extinguish the small fire herself before it could spread, according to the fire department.
Around 11 p.m., Hot Springs firefighters responded to the apartments, located at 619 Second St., where a resident had discovered "a bottle with a rag shoved in it which was on fire and set outside her door," Hot Springs Fire Marshal Tom Braughton said Wednesday.
The resident was able to push the bottle away from her door and dumped a bucket of water on it to extinguish the burning rag, which had not ignited the contents of the bottle, believed to be gasoline, Braughton said.
The incident was initially reported as a fire bombing as if the object had been thrown at the apartment, but "that wasn't the truth," he said. There wasn't much of the liquid that had been inside left, but Braughton noted it "smelled like gasoline."
He said he sent the bottle to the state crime lab to be checked for fingerprints and the rag is being processed for evidence, but there were no witnesses to the incident and no suspects have been developed.
Local on 09/03/2015