BROCKTON — A resident of Middleborough charged with setting fire to a building in West Bridgewater was ordered held without bail Thursday, as author­ities continued to investigate whether he set fire to at least 24 other unoccupied or abandoned buildings south of Boston since September.

During a two-day dangerousness hearing in Brockton District Court to evaluate whether Mark Sargent and co-defendant Jean Marie Louis should be held without bail, prosecutors portrayed Sargent as being so focused on causing fiery destruction that he could not stop even when he knew ­officials were closing in on him.