Authorities have determined that two fires at Snowflake High School last week were deliberately set.
At 5:18 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 24, a citizen called the Snowflake-Taylor Police Department to report that there was smoke coming from the shed at the SHS softball field.
“An officer responded to the area, and noticed the smoke and small flames coming out from the bottom of the shed,” said Lt. Robert (Bobbie) Martin.
Taylor-Snowflake Fire & Medical Department personnel were dispatched to the softball storage shed, but, “the officer was able to subdue the flames with a fire extinguisher,” said Martin.
“While responding to the shed fire, a second fire was discovered in a barrel located under the sawdust hopper next to the wood shop,” said Assistant Fire Chief Willie Nelson.
The officer was able to partially extinguish and manage the barrel fire until fire crews arrived on scene.
“The shed was nearly out when we arrived and only burned the doors,” said Nelson.
“The second fire was started below the saw dust hopper and extended into the equipment,” said Nelson. “Fortunately, the fire did not extend into the building, but caused significant damage to the hopper components and filled the wood shop full of smoke.”
“The fires are being treated as arson,” said Nelson, because there were two fires in separate locations with no accidental ignition sources near the areas of origin.
Damage to the shed was estimated at $450. At this time the cost of the damage to the hopper system from the wood shop is unknown.
“This case remains open at this time and is being investigated as two separate acts of arson,” said Lt. Martin.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Snowflake-Taylor Police Department by phone at 536-7500, Facebook at SnowflakeTaylorPoliceDepartment, Twitter at @STPOLICE or Instagram at @st_policedept, or contact WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME and remain anonymous.
