By Tom Sheehan
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
JOHNSTOWN, Ohio — Eight structure fires in the last four months have left local fire officials concerned that a serial arsonist could be at work.
Authorities don’t yet know whether any of the fires that have happened since July 10 are linked, but say it’s unusual to have so many arsons in such a small community.
The latest fire, Saturday night on Windy Hollow Road, east of Rt. 37, heavily damaged the ranch-style home of Jane Mutchler. Nobody was injured.
An arson sign was posted on the front of the house yesterday.
That was the first fire to hit an occupied structure, said Johnstown-Monroe Fire Chief Dudley Wright.
A fire at an unoccupied house on nearby Northridge Road in St. Albans Township early Saturday was added to the arson list yesterday by state fire marshal investigators. St. Albans Township Fire Department handled that fire, while the Johnstown department responded to the others.
“If this is a serial arsonist, they don’t check boundaries,” Wright said yesterday. “In Johnstown, we have not had a big problem with arson. To have seven arson fires is a lot.”
Saturday night’s fire woke Carl Robinson, who lives across the road from Mutchler’s house, about 11:20 a.m. He heard sirens and saw flashing lights.
“I didn’t see any fire, but there was a lot of smoke,” he said.
Robinson said a produce stand on Windy Hollow Road and Rt. 37 also was torched this fall.
State fire marshal investigators are offering $5,000 rewards for information leading to arrests in the fires Saturday as well as these arsons in the Johnstown area:
* July 10: An unoccupied house at 11321 Duncan Plains Rd.
* July 13: A vacant house at 1605 Mink St.. The house later was torn down as part of the Rt. 161 highway project.
* Sept. 1: The Johnstown Independent Baptist Church at 7397 Johnstown-Alexandria Rd. NW.
* Sept. 26: The Liberty Township Hall at 6290 Sportsman Club Rd.
* Oct. 17: A vacant two-story house at 7353 Clover Valley Rd.
The fires have occurred at all times of the day and night.
“At this point, we do not know if any of them are related,” said Denise Lee, spokeswoman for the fire marshal. “We used our accelerant-detection dogs at both locations” over the weekend, Lee said.
Investigators previously have said that accelerants apparently were used in most of the fires.
Lee said that officials ask anyone with information to contact the fire marshal’s office at 1-800-589-2728.