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Man accused of setting homes on fire in Columbia County

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Homes in Columbia County caught fire and deputies said it was done on purpose.

A dining room table is one of the only things left standing in a house after catching fire.

It’s one of two houses, deputies said, David Williams set on fire.

“There’s so many friendly people around here you could never imagine something like that to happen out here, it was wild,” neighbor Charlotte Hull said.

Moments before a house caught fire on Utah Street, Hull said, Williams was parked suspiciously outside her house.

“He was sitting there for like 15 minutes by himself with all the window down,” Hull said.

She said he soon drove off, and that’s when she heard sirens from firetrucks. So she went outside.

“I could smell it wasn’t like a yard fire; it was a house you could smell the difference,” Hull said.

Hull said she came down the road and saw him trying to set a house on fire.

At first, the house wouldn’t catch fire so she said he took his shirt, lit it on fire then threw it under the house.

But then she said he turned around and saw her with her three little boys.

“Came up real slow behind me and looked me dead in the eyes and had the gun over here like that,” Hull said.

She started running from as she called 911.

“I said, 'Yes, the house is on fire, he’s got a gun.' I said, 'I’m scared.' They said, 'Run,'” Hull said.

Williams was arrested at a traffic stop after leading deputies on a chase. Authorities said he even burned his own hair.

Williams is being charged with fleeing and eluding and arson.

Action News Jax looked up Williams’ past criminal history and found that he was arrested for arson in 1999.