SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon State Police are searching for an arsonist who burned two public toilets on Sunday at the Capitol Mall in Salem causing more than $15,000 in damage.

The police have asked the public to step forward with any information that could help them find whoever set multiple fires Sunday afternoon.

Although no one was hurt, the damage to the two toilets and an entryway is estimated at more than $15,000.

A family walking by saw black smoke and flames, and called the Salem Fire Department at 2:50 p.m. Sunday as they walked by the toilet at the north end of the mall.

That toilet suffered the worst of the damage with the plastic melting down and flames scorching a glass-enclosed entryway to the parking garage below.

About 45 minutes after the first fire, a second toilet was torched. City firefighters responded quickly and saved the structure, but the damage was done.

The mall now is without a functional toilet and people aren't happy about it.

"I think it's horrible, 'cause I worked for almost five years for the Oregon State Fire Marshal, and arson is a really horrible deed, as far as I'm concerned," state worker Diane Hice said.

"It's childish, it's crazy, there's no reason to do anything like that. It just costs taxpayer money to put it out," ODOT worker Linda Ruiz said.

State police said about 50 people were at the mall Sunday afternoon.

OSP detectives said the fires were started inside the plastic enclosures, but they aren't saying how, because the criminal investigation is continuing.

The NW Insurance Council and the Oregon Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators have a $5,000 Arson Awards Fund designed to encourage citizens to step forward and help identify arsonists.

Credible information from citizens leading to an arrest or conviction of arsonists is considered for nomination for an award from the fund.

According to the IAAI, only 17 percent of all arson investigations result in convictions.

Tips related to these fire investigations can be called into the Oregon Arson Hotline at 800-452-7888.