An accused serial arsonist has been charged with setting four fires in a Union County town over a three-hour span last week after he was caught with a lighter, can of WD-40 and cardboard while smashing the glass door of a business while firefighters battled the blazes, authorities said Thursday. Marcus D. Wise, 30, of Roselle, faces multiple counts of arson, burglary and criminal mischief for the incidents that began at 10 p.m. July 25 in Linden, according to acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Linden Police Chief David Hart.
The first fire was reported when a business went up in flames in the 800 block of North Wood Avenue. About 30 minutes later, police and firefighters were called to a fire at a vacant home that became engulfed in flames in the 900 block of Seymour Avenue. Shortly after midnight, firefighters and police responded to a brush fire in the 20 block of East Curtis Street and a dumpster fire at Soehl Middle School on East Henry Street, police and prosecutors said.