Police: Homeless man suspected of setting FedEx truck on fire

A transient man from Santa Rosa was arrested Thursday after allegedly setting a FedEx truck on fire in Petaluma the previous morning, police said.

Police and fire personnel responded to a reported vehicle fire at a FedEx Freight center just before 2:10 a.m. Wednesday, arriving to find a FedEx truck fully engulfed in flames, Petaluma Police Sgt. Rick Cox said in a news release.

After putting out the blaze, which destroyed the truck at the 1230 North McDowell Blvd. facility and caused an estimated $50,000 loss, public safety personnel found signs pointing to arson, Cox said.

Police found 37-year-old Chilico Hart nearby, though no information about a suspect was available and he was released.

The next day, officers reviewed video footage showing that Hart had been inside the truck before the fire began, and fled when police and fire personnel arrived, Cox said.

After police matched images of Hart from the security camera with footage from an officer’s body camera, Santa Rosa Police Department officers tracked Hart down in Santa Rosa Thursday. During a subsequent interview with a Petaluma police officer, Hart said he’d been in the area near the fire, but claimed he didn’t remember what happened that morning, Cox said.

Hart was arrested at 10:02 a.m. on suspicion of arson and transported to the Sonoma County Jail. He’s being held in lieu of a $10,000 bail.