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Five Rancho Sahuarita homes that were under construction were destroyed Friday night in what officials are calling suspicious fires.

The Rural/Metro Fire Department began receiving multiple 911 reports just before 11 p.m. of several homes on fire off of South Rancho Sahuarita Boulevard, south of West Sahuarita Road, said Battalion Chief Rick Flores, a department spokesman.

When firefighters arrived, they found five homes that were under construction fully engulfed in flames, he said. Officials suspect that the homes were set on fire one by one.

It took more than an hour and a combined 40 firefighters from Rural/Metro and the Green Valley Fire District to get the two-alarm blaze under control, Flores said.

Sahuarita town officials said on Saturday that they were concerned about the fires but do not see a need for increased security in the fast-growing area, about 20 miles south of Downtown Tucson.

"I am concerned about it, but the thing that I am most concerned about is the fact that two of the homes were separated by a street from the other three," said Town Manager Jim Stahle. "Although we do not know the cause, that seems like it would indicate a high likelihood of arson."

Stahle added that the Sahuarita Police Department might consider doing more active patrols in the area, but he could not say for sure if that would happen.

"This is an uncommon event, and we will keep an eye out to make sure it remains an uncommon event," he said.

Damage is estimated at $100,000 for each home, Flores said. Stahle said they were being built by KB Home Inc.

No cause has been determined because of the number of homes that were involved.

"Whenever we have five homes go up in flames, we are dealing with five separate fire scenes that have to be investigated," Flores said. "It takes up a lot of our resources."

An arson task force — consisting of several area fire departments, the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — is investigating, he said.

The task force is also using an arson dog that specializes in the detection of accelerants, Flores said.

No injuries were reported and no occupied homes were in any immediate danger, although strong winds did force firefighters to fight the blaze more aggressively to keep it from spreading, Flores said.

More than four years ago, four Catalina Foothills luxury homes under construction were torched. The fires were determined to be arson, but no arrests were made.