Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Monday, July 20, 2009
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Rewards are available for information about three suspected arsons near the Henry-Patrick county line as authorities try to determine if the cases are related.
“There have been other arsons in the area, and we are looking at them and trying to link similarities,” Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith said Friday.
The most recent case of suspected arson occurred July 11 on Anthony Drive in Patrick Springs, Smith said. Guns and jewelry were taken from a home before it was nearly consumed by the blaze.
“Definitely, arson is suspected,” said Patrick investigator Nick Pendleton. However, the exact cause of the fire has not been determined, and a damage estimate is not yet available.
The incident remains under investigation by sheriff’s investigators and special agents with the Virginia State Police, according to Pendleton and Smith.
Arson was determined to be the cause of two other recent fires in the same general area.
Patrick County Sheriff’s Lt. Betsy Layman said a May 31 blaze destroyed a detached garage at 1609 Elf Trail in Patrick County.
Damages were estimated at $18,000, including $15,000 to the garage and $3,000 to a nearby double-wide mobile home, she said.
The fire was ruled arson because “there was no electricity to that building and no combustible” materials inside the garage, Layman said.
A June 14 blaze at a vacant apartment building in Henry County also was ruled an arson, according to Henry County Fire Marshal Rodney Howell.
The fire caused an estimated $35,000 in damage to the building at 6481 Stones Dairy Road, Bassett, Howell said of the building that once housed Jay’s Drive-in.
Authorities have not yet determined whether the fires are related.
Given “the close proximity, there’s always that possibility,” Layman said.
Fires generally are more common in winter, so it is an odd time of year to see so many in a short time span, she said.
“It is interesting that they all would occur” within a short time frame and in the same general area, Howell said, and said the collective blazes are “an unusual coincidence ... an interesting coincidence.”
Rewards are available for information related to arsons through the Virginia Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), he said.
The amounts vary from $100 to $5,000, depending on the information submitted, assistance given, timeliness of the information and risk taken by the person submitting it, according to the IAAI Web site.
Reward amounts are determined by the Virginia Advisory Committee on Arson Prevention and/or International Association of Arson Investigators, Virginia Chapter.
More than one reward may be given in the same case.
Anyone who provides information to authorities that leads to the arrest of a person committing arson in Virginia may be eligible to receive a reward, the site states, except for insurance industry employees, independent investigative agencies, police, fire and commonwealth attorney staff members and their families, who are not eligible.
“Every effort will be made to protect the anonymity of any and all persons” who request their identity be protected, according to the IAAI.
Additional rewards may be available through local CrimeStoppers agencies.
Anyone with information on the local fires is asked to call 638-8751 or CrimeStoppers at 63-CRIME in Henry County.
In Patrick County, call 694-3161 or CrimeStoppers at 694-5000. |
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