April 28--Police suspect arson is behind three fires that destroyed one Lacey home and damaged three others Saturday morning. No one was hurt.
Fire crews arrived at the 4000 block of 20th Avenue Northeast off Sleater-Kinney Road about 3:30 a.m. and saw a two-story home engulfed in flames that were spreading to an adjacent home.
Crews discovered two other homes also had been set afire.
The homes were under construction and part of the new Trailside housing development, a part of Freestone Communities, said Thurston County Sheriff's Lt. Gordon Phillip.
It appears three of the fires were intentionally set, Phillip said. The fourth house was burned by spreading flames. Damage is estimated to be around $400,000.
"There are multiple new neighborhoods they are building, but this is the only one they are picking on," he said. "It doesn't seem like they are going after the company; it seems like the job site location."
The development is being built on what used to be a field, Phillip said, and is not far from the Chehalis-Western Trail.
Detectives have no leads, he said, but have ruled out any sort of environmental motivation.
"There is no tagging of any of that," Phillip added.
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