Arsonist Sets Fire to Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington

metroweekly.com:

The Northern Virginia bar’s owner, Freddie Lutz, told Metro Weekly that the bar had received a veiled threat from an anonymous caller the day before the fire.“He basically said, ‘We’re going to fuck you up, we’re going to fuck up people at the bar, and then we’re going to go beat up women, whatever that means,'” Lutz said.The same anonymous caller called back with a nearly identical message just hours after the fire was put out.It remains unclear whether the caller has any connection to the fire.

Lutz said the would-be arsonist used some type of item — unknown at this time — to set a fire inside the vestibule at the bar’s main entrance, which opens up to an enclosed patio.The fire singed the front doors and the roof of the vestibule but did not spread to the awning, the rest of the patio, or other parts of the building.

The front doors are going to have to be replaced, Lutz said.Two other nearby businesses, Crystal City Sports Pub and McNamara’s, were also targeted by the arsonist between the hours of 4-6 a.m.

on January 9. The fires at Freddie’s Beach Bar and McNamara’s appear to have been set in a similar manner.The fire marshal’s office initially declared the blazes as “suspicious in nature” but has since classified them as a form of arson.