BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Police have arrested a woman in connection to a car fire late Sunday outside a California television station’s studios, forcing the building to evacuate and interrupting a newscast.
Bakersfield police said the fire outside KGET appeared to have been set intentionally, the NewsNation affiliate reported.
Amber Hernandez, 40, was arrested for attempted arson of an inhabited building, Bakersfield Police said in a statement.
The fire was reported at around 11 p.m. in downtown Bakersfield, where a vehicle was found burning outside the building’s parking lot gates.
Bakersfield Police Sgt. Jason Townsend said an officer in the area heard several explosions nearby. The officer found an abandoned vehicle burning, facing the wrong direction close to the studio’s parking lot gates.
Townsend said the fire and explosion appeared to be an intentional act. He said several items, which appeared to be crosses, were left against the parking lot gate.
KGET staffers described 13 wooden crosses about 5- to 7-feet tall outside the gates. Two of them were draped with what appeared to be wedding dresses, a third with a man’s suit jacket.
Video from a camera atop the KGET studio showed an intense fire, with flames shooting as high as 20 feet into the air.
Early Monday morning, Sgt. Sean Morphis said Bakersfield firefighters arrived and put out the fire to the burning vehicle. Morphis said a person was detained near the area for questioning.
Police bomb squad officers were called to the scene “out of an abundance of caution” because of the proximity to the KGET studio, Morphis said.
Details of the incident itself were not immediately known. Morphis said the fire to the vehicle appeared to have been set intentionally but couldn’t confirm an explosion from the vehicle.
An arson investigation is ongoing and no possible motive was revealed.
No injuries were reported.
KGET is an affiliate of Nexstar Media Group’s NewsNation.