WEST CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (BCN) -- Officials plan to hold a community meeting Wednesday to talk to  West Contra Costa County residents about the recent spate of vehicle arson  fires in the area.

County Supervisor John Gioia, the El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council's crime  prevention subcommittee, and representatives from the Contra Costa County  Fire Protection District and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's office will be  at the meeting to talk to residents about the arson fires.

So far, fire investigators believe that the same person or group  is responsible for torching 20 vehicles in Richmond, El Sobrante and San  Pablo in the past three weeks, officials said.

Contra Costa County Fire Investigator Vic Massenkoff said today  that investigators are still working to determine whether several additional  vehicle arson fires in the area may also be connected, but declined to  discuss the specifics of the investigations.

At a news conference in San Pablo last week, Massenkoff said  investigators believe the first fire in the series was set Oct. 31 on Ridge  View Circle in El Sobrante, where one vehicle was burned.

Six more fires that burned 12 vehicles were set in Richmond and El  Sobrante in the early morning hours of Nov. 4. And three more fires were set  the night of Nov. 7, burning three vehicles. The eleventh fire was set in the  early morning of Nov. 10 in El Sobrante and then on Nov. 16, three more  vehicles were burned in two separate fires in San Pablo, according to the  fire district.

The community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the El Sobrante  Library's reading room at 4191 Appian Way in El Sobrante.
     
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