This mobile home in Sydney Mines was destroyed in a fire on Oct. 29. (CBC)

A man suspected of setting a rash of fires in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is in hospital with second- and third-degree burns.

Officers went to an apartment in North Sydney Monday afternoon and found a man in his 20s with burns to more than 40 per cent of his body, Cape Breton Regional Police said.

The man was taken to the hospital in Sydney, then transported to the burn unit at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.

"He's a person of interest to us in these fires," Staff Sgt. John O'Rourke said Wednesday. "We were actively looking for this person and … received co-operation from the public stating where he was at."

Investigators plan to speak with the man once his condition improves, O'Rourke added.

Firefighters have battled more than a dozen suspicious fires around the region in recent weeks. The police department set up a special arson unit to investigate.