Three Fires Remind W.Va. Crews of Past Arson Spree

Summersville firefighter Seth Bostic said people in his town get on edge whenever there's a fire, fearing another string of arsons like last year.

On Thursday, seven people were without homes after their apartment caught fire late Wednesday night. On Saturday, an apartment complex along Camp Fork Road burned to the ground and a third blaze last week destroyed a vacant building that once housed a Workforce West Virginia office.

Despite a recent rash of fires, Bostic said he doesn't think Summersville has a higher than normal number of blazes.

"It's all in a day's work for us," he said.

At 7 p.m. Wednesday, one apartment caught fire at Summers Village Apartments along Summers Village Drive. The complex has eight units and seven people lived there, Bostic said.

"The power and water's gone off and two or three units burned down," he said. "There's smoke damage everywhere."

The fire's cause is still under investigation, he said, and firefighters are still looking into what caused two others last week.

The vacant building, along Broad Street, still had electricity service even though it hadn't been used in several months. Bostic said the building used to house a bowling alley. A fire also destroyed a house along Camp Fork Road on April 28, leaving two people homeless.

Salvation Army Capt. Robert Barber said he's also recovering from a fire that destroyed the organization's thrift store and chapel in Summersville on Feb 8.

"We're hoping to figure out an agreement to have a space over there that we can use as an office," Barber said. "We are in the middle of lawyers and paperwork. Doesn't anyone just shake hands anymore?"

State fire marshals couldn't determine what caused the blaze or if an accelerant was present. An engineer ruled out any electrical problems, Bostic said.

"That's part of the problem," Barber said. "If it was arson we could have claimed it on our insurance differently. It if was electrical, we could have claimed it differently."

Luckily not much was lost during the blaze. He could only claim items that the Salvation Army bought to run its business and church. The desks and church furniture were donated.

The Salvation Army is still helping people in Summersville with support from other local community groups.

Firefighters who are called out to a blaze automatically think back to last year, Bostic said, when they battled five arsons Feb. 24, 2012. At least four of those were early morning blazes that occurred within one hour, between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.

Summersville police Detective T.A. Blake said Nicholas Coty Stover and Austin Lee Cox, both 21 and from Craigsville, were charged in connection to several of those arsons. Both men are on home confinement while awaiting trial.

Barber is hoping the Summersville community could come together to raise money for a new Salvation Army office.

"It's just the way we operated our businesses," he said. "We didn't save for a rainy day. We spent all of our money month to month helping people."

Reach Travis Crum at [email protected] or 304-348-5163.

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