NEW ORLEANS -- Fire investigators suspect that five fires on the front porches of homes along Broadway Avenue were intentionally set.

Four of those five homes, which are near the Tulane University campus, are rented by Tulane students, according to Jason Prilieu with the New Orleans Fire Department.

The fires all happened Sunday morning, and investigators are looking into the possibility that they may be connected to a hit-and-run accident a few blocks away.

New Orleans police said the accident happened on Spruce Street around the same time the second fire was reported. The accident injured a man, but he refused medical care, police said.

Samples of material from all five fires have been taken to a local lab to determine what kind of accelerant was used in the arsons, Prileu said. Officials from Tulane police are aiding NOFD in the investigation.

The fires happened between the 1600 block and the 2000 block of Broadway, fire investigators said. Two of them were put out by Tulane police officers, and another was put out by neighbors at one of the homes. No injuries were reported in any of the fires.