Stonnington Crime Investigation Unit detectives have charged a man after a series of alleged arson incidents in Melbourne’s east and south.
Emergency services were called a licensed premises on Nelson Road in Box Hill to reports of a shed fire just after 9pm.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire and although approximately 60 people had to be evacuated there were no reports of injuries.
Witnesses reported seeing a man running from the scene who matched the description of a person allegedly seen at an earlier incident in Malvern.
In that incident a man attended a petrol station on Glenferrie Road and emptied a jerry can onto the ground about 1.35pm.
Investigators have been told the man threatened to set fire to the petrol he had poured from the can and even held a lit lighter in front of witnesses before fleeing the scene in a vehicle.
Investigators subsequently arrested a 33-year-old Surrey Hills man in relation to these incidents as well as another alleged arson in Camberwell on 24 March.
He has since been charged with three counts of arson, two counts of criminal damage by fire, theft, threaten to destroy/damage property, reckless endanger serious injury and reckless conduct endangering life.
The 33-year-old will face remanded to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today.
