Election Section

Motel blaze 

Firefighters have launched an arson investigation following an early morning fire Monday that resulted in $20,000 in damage to a building attached to the Golden Bear Inn in West Berkeley. 

Police arrived within three minutes of the alarm, and had the blaze controlled within 10 minutes after that, saving the $500,000 structure. 

“The fire started on the exterior,” said Gil Dong, acting assistant chief of the Berkeley Fire Department. 

“Because there was no heat source that could have caused the fire and no evidence of cigarette smoking, the cause is listed as suspicious,” Dong said. 

Jonathan Hardy, the inn’s general manager, said the building, a cottage rented out to tenants, was unoccupied at the time of the fire. 

Wall fire 

Firefighters rushed to a home at 2120 Los Angeles Ave. at 9:40 Thursday morning, where they discovered a fire in a wall they later attributed to an overloaded electrical circuit. 

Damaged was contained to the wall, which firefighters had to open to quench the flames.›