North Vernon police are accusing a man of pouring gasoline throughout an apartment and then setting it on fire last week.

27-year-old Jonathon N. White, of North Vernon , is facing preliminary charges of arson and a probation violation in the  incident which started late Thursday night.

Rescue workers were called to the apartments on West Poplar Street at about 11:11 p.m. Thursday night and found an apartment engulfed in flames. A North Vernon officer fought the fire with a fire extinguisher until firefighters arrived. They evacuated about five neighboring apartments.

Witnesses told police that they saw White spreading the gasoline in the apartment and lighting it, according to police reports. A gas can, believed to belong to White, was found in neighboring yard, police sai.d

Police found White at about 9 a.m. Friday, walking on County Road 400E, where he was arrested without incident.