Mentally Ill Woman Admits to Setting Fires

Woman arrested for setting Far East Dallas apartment fire admits to setting other blazes
Yesterday, July 19, 2009, 9:40:33 PM | Scott Goldstein/Reporter
Ebonia Collins suffers from mental illness and had not taken her medication for one month, according to police documents.

Perhaps that is part of the explanation for why she admittedly set a fire that destroyed an entire building in a Far East Dallas apartment complex Thursday evening. She also told Dallas Fire-Rescue investigators that she set two other fires in the Millennium Pointe Apartments in the 2900 block of Dilido Road. One was a mattress fire and the other was a dumpster fire.

Luckily, only one person was hospitalized following the Thursday fire that caused more than $600,000 in damages. A teenage boy hurt himself jumping from his third-floor balcony.

In a rather dramatic scene, Collins was spotted by shouting residents as the fire was still burning Thursday night. Cops, fire officials, residents and news reporters ran after her and she was taken into custody near the scene.

She's in the Dallas County Jail tonight on an arson charge. Her bail was set at $10,000.