Police question arson suspect

By Ed Runyan

Firefighters found five fires in a small area within 90 minutes of one another.

WARREN — Investigators on the scene of five fires set along the Warren-Howland border near John F. Kennedy High School have questioned a suspect they think is responsible for the damage done Wednesday night.

The investigation has Warren Fire Chief Ken Nussle wondering whether the suspect may also be responsible for five other arsons at the high school over the past 14 months.

Howland Fire Chief George Brown confirmed that investigators from his department and the Warren Fire Department, along with the state fire marshal’s office, interviewed a possible suspect in the fires Wednesday night.

The individual was not arrested, and Brown would not identify the person by name, age or gender.

Residents living near the Orchard, Fairview and Draper fires identified a couple of suspects, and investigators were able to narrow down the focus to one person, Brown said.

Brown said the close proximity of the five fires and the fact that the fires were all set within about 90 minutes of one another suggest just one person set them, he said.

“Hopefully we’ve got a break in this,” Nussle said.

Howland firefighters responded to fires on adjacent streets Fairview and Orchard avenues southeast at around 10 p.m. Wednesday and assisted with a fire on the next street over, Draper Street in Warren.

While at the Draper Street home, firefighters spotted a fourth fire on the nearby campus of John F. Kennedy High School on Central Parkway in Warren, Brown said.

Of the fires on Fairview, Orchard and Draper, only the fire at 2898 Orchard did extensive damage, destroying a vacant house and damaging garages and a car at the houses adjacent to it, Brown said.

The fire on Fairview ignited some garbage, and the fire on Draper ignited a porch. In both cases the fires were extinguished quickly, and occupants of the homes were not injured, he said.

When Warren firefighters arrived at Kennedy at about 11:30 p.m., they extinguished a piece of plastic hanging over a school fence and then discovered a second fire involving wooden pallets in a trash receptacle.

The second fire at Kennedy was close to the back of the building and caught a low roof of the building on fire for a brief time. The roof received minor damage, Nussle said.

The high school has been the scene of four other suspicious fires since Aug. 1, 2007, when a soccer net was burned on a practice football field there.

On May 14 this year, wooden pallets on the ground near the practice football field were burned.

On July 1 this year, an arsonist burned a 12-foot-by-24-foot wooden storage building near the practice football field, causing a loss of about $15,000 to the building and sports equipment inside.

On Sept. 12, firefighters responded to a burning tarp left hanging over a fence by the football practice field, and on Sept. 13, the metal storage shed built to replace the metal one was also set ablaze, ruining most of the sports equipment inside.

All of the fires at the school were set between about 11:30 p.m. and 7 a.m.

runyan@vindy.com