$5K reward for barn fire information

Harlem Town­ship fire­fight­ers extin­guish the remain­ing embers from the barn fire at 4855 Miller-Paul Road in Sun­bury. It was the third fire to be reported in the area last Thurs­day (April 5) morn­ing. (Photo by Kate Leibers)

KATE LIEBERS

Staff Reports

A reward of up to $5,000 has been posted for infor­ma­tion about who is respon­si­ble for Thursday’s barn fire.

Inves­ti­ga­tors want to hear from any­one who may have seen or heard some­thing out of the ordi­nary at or around the time of the fire which was reported at 6:08 a.m., State Fire Mar­shal spokesper­son Shane Cart­mill said.

Any­one who heard some­one talk­ing about the fire with an unusual level of inter­est or knowl­edge is also encour­aged to call. No tip should be con­sid­ered insignif­i­cant, Cart­mill said.

Those with infor­ma­tion may call the Divi­sion of State Fire Mar­shal at 1–800-589‑2728 or the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office at 740–833-2800.

The fire destroyed prop­erty at 15253 Wood­town Road in Sun­bury. It was the first of three barn fires to be reported that morn­ing, but the only one with enough evi­dence to offi­cially be ruled as arson.

“The cause of the other two barn fires on 1915 Ohio 605S and 4855 Miller-Paul Road remains unde­ter­mined,” Cart­mill wrote. “How­ever, inves­ti­ga­tors believe those fires are prob­a­bly also arson given their close prox­im­ity in time and location.”

The fires on Ohio 605 and Miller-Paul Road were reported at 6:26 and 6:52 a.m., respectively.

Inves­ti­ga­tors also would like to hear from any­one who may have infor­ma­tion about those fires.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office is also look­ing into pos­si­ble links between the recent Delaware County barn fires and the five Lick­ing County arsons, which took place within the past year. No con­nec­tion has yet been con­firmed, Cart­mill said.

Two of the five Lick­ing County fires took place in Hart­ford Town­ship, for which a Lick­ing County Crime Stop­pers reward of up to $1,000 was offered.

The first was reported around 6:45 a.m. Feb. 9 at 3660 N. County Line Road in Cro­ton. The sec­ond was reported around 6:30 a.m. Feb. 23 at 15218 Down­ing Road in Centerburg.

Both barns were used to store farm equip­ment and other goods, and expe­ri­enced respec­tive losses of more than $6,000 and $1,000,000.

The other three Lick­ing County fires were reported Aug. 18, 2011 between 5:13 and 6:21 a.m. in the Hebron area.

Posted by Gary Henery on Apr 11 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.