Fires in Des Moines called suspicious

Investigators are asking the public for help as they look into three arson fires at two Des Moines businesses over the holiday weekend. Lieutenant Linda Frangenberg, spokeswoman for the Des Moines Fire Department, says one of the blazes was on Friday afternoon inside a clothing store, which had to be evacuated on the busiest shopping day of the year.The Burlington Coat Factory store was filled with light smoke. Someone had set fire to several display items on a table and store employees had the flames mostly extinguished by the time firefighters arrived. Lieutenant Frangenberg says the immediate damage estimate was about one-thousand dollars but that number could go much higher. Store managers are trying to determine how much of the clothing in the store was damaged by the smoke. While two store employees were transported to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, Frangenberg says the situation could have been a much worse, given the packed store during the holiday rush. Two more fires were reported Friday afternoon outside Conway Pallets. Both were stacks of wooden pallets set ablaze outside the building. Damage is estimated at 15-thousand dollars. No arrests have been made in either case. Investigators say there is -no- evidence suggesting the fires are related.