Anchorage Daily News

A man accused of setting his hotel room on fire this morning was arrested in a nearby parking lot after he asked a passer-by to turn him in, according to Anchorage police.

Charles McKinney, 46, is charged with first-degree arson following the fire just after 11 a.m. in a second-floor room in Motel 6 in the 5000 block of A Street, police spokeswoman Marlene Lammers said.

Hotel officials evacuated the building, and heavy smoke met firefighters and police arriving at the room, she said. The hotel is equipped with a suppression system that confined the blaze to the single unit, she said.

McKinney, of New Jersey, was registered as the room's occupant, Lammers said.

Within an hour of the fire - before a locate could be issued on McKinney - the man asked a passer-by in the parking lot of the nearby Golden Corral restaurant to call police, saying he had just set a hotel on fire, Lammers said.

Officers arrived and found McKinney sitting in the parking lot, she said.

Lammers said she didn't know why McKinney set the fire nor why he asked a citizen to call police shortly thereafter. There was no doubt the fire was deliberately set, she said.

McKinney was booked in the Anchorage jail on $5,000 bail with a third-party custodian required.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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