Fire officers suspect pyromaniac in Mason Hall

FIRE officers supect there is a pyromaniac on the loose after 12 fires were reported in the Mason Hall/Moriah area within the last four months. The fires have left multiple home-owners with damage worth well over $100,000.

Fire officer David Thomas on Monday said they are looking for a pattern in the recent fires to determine the culprit.

On Saturday, fire officers extinguished a blaze at a house at Palm Hill Drive, Mason Hall. The house is owned by Winston Isaac, who lives in Miami. The caretaker, Nicholas Henry, said there are regular break-ins at the property. Preliminary investigations revealed there were three fires, leaving police to believe there was malicious intent.

The value of the house was estimated at $750,000 and damage was approximately $100,000. No one was injured.

On Monday, fire officials received another report of a fire at Highland, Moriah.

Thomas said these fires occurred during the day when residents were not at home.

“Coming out of the investigations, we will be able to establish a motive," he said. "We want to see if there is something happening there that we didn’t pick up before, so we are going to review all the previous reports and see if there is any pattern. We will be looking at the times and days the fire occurred, the rate of fire and all the circumstances. There is a possibility there might be a pyromaniac around, it might not be an arsonist.”

For 2019 there have been reports of eight fires in Mason Hall and four in Moriah.