L.A. Arson Suspect Under Investigation in Canada

Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, were investigating whether the arson suspect dubbed the "Hollywood fire devil" by German newspapers was also responsible for a string of arson fires in the Canadian province.

A spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department told the Los Angeles Times that discussions about Harry Burkhart, 24, of Hollywood, were under way with police in Los Angeles.

The Times report came after several Canadian news outlets linked Burkhart to at at least 12 unsolved arson fires in Vancouver. But Vancouver police have said nothing more than that they were talking with the LAPD.

Burkhart is jailed in Los Angeles and charged with 28 counts of arson of property and nine counts of arson of an inhabited structure. His bail was set at $2.85 million.

in connection with the fires that were set beginning last week at some 53 locations, mostly in Hollywood and West Hollywood but also in North Hollywood, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Valley Village, Burbank and Sunland.

His mother, Dorothee Burkhart, was due in federal court Friday afternoon, where federal prosecutors were seeking to deport her on warrants from Germany, where she is accused of fraud.

Her son's anger over the expected deportation was what triggered Burkhart's four-day arson spree in the L.A. area, prosecutors have said.

Patch's complete coverage of the arson fires:

• Cars Set on Fire, and Los Angeles Set on Edge