For the week of November 5 - 11, 2003

Carey fires called arson

$20,000 in damage on windy night

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"It almost burned the (Bob) Jones house."

—WALT FEMLING, Blaine County sheriff

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The Blaine County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a series of arson fires last week in Carey that burned more than $20,000 in hay and outbuildings.

Four Carey men are considered suspects in two fires that burned more than 325 tons of straw and hay Oct. 29 and nearly claimed a Mountain View Lane home, said Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling.

Femling declined to name any of the suspects but said they are all Carey residents and all over the age of 18. By Tuesday afternoon, no one had been arrested for the crimes.

High winds during the night helped fan the flames and hindered efforts to quickly extinguish the fires, Femling said.

The first fire was reported at 2:20 a.m. and was started on a hay stack owned by Donald Green in northern Carey, along the Little Wood Reservoir Road. The fire rapidly spread to a nearby straw stack and a sheep barn, which ranchers call a loafing shed.

Green lost 60 tons of hay and 5 tons of straw totaling around $7,000, Femling said.

A second fire was started shortly after the first on a straw stack at a ranch owned by Jim Cenarrusa.

"The stack was fully engulfed in flames and quickly spread into a field. It started to jump Lake View Road and burned another haystack, hay shed and another loafing shed owned by Bob Jones," Femling said. "It almost burned the Jones’ house."

Cenarrusa lost 160 tons of straw and 100 tons of hay, totaling about $14,400 Femling said.

Femling said fuel may have been used to accelerate the fires. The state fire marshal is helping to investigate.

Femling said it is possible that the fires are connected with a possible Gannett arson that is still under investigation.

The Gannett fire burned approximately 1,000 acres of a grain field and nearby sagebrush on Sept. 20. The source of ignition, which was on the grain field, owned by Robert Gardner, is under investigation and is considered "suspicious," Femling said.

 

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