Woman accused of arson in Phoenix apartment, vehicle fire

PHOENIX — A woman suspected of setting fire to a storage unit that spread to several apartment units and vehicles was arrested, authorities said.

Deja Lauren Clayton, 38, faces multiple charges, including one count of arson of an occupied structure and one count of endangerment, the Phoenix Police Department said in a press release Monday.

The fire started Friday around 2:30 a.m. on Maryland Avenue near 12th Street in a storage unit at an apartment complex. It damaged five to six vehicles, four apartment units and displaced six residents.

Authorities said video surveillance from the apartment complex showed Clayton walk directly up to the on-site storage unit. Shortly after she walked away, flames could be seen coming from the unit.

Clayton told police she started the storage unit fire, which belonged to a man she’d been seeing, just hours after smoking methamphetamines.

Police said she’d only meant to set the man’s storage unit on fire and was “glad nobody got hurt in the fire.”

She was booked into Fourth Avenue Jail.

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