Utah officials looking at arson as cause for summer grass fires

Investigators want to know if a series of grass fires set in Sanpete County over the summer were the result of an arsonist. | Adobe Stock

MANTI — Investigators want to know if a series of grass fires set in Sanpete County over the summer were the result of an arsonist.

Emergency crews responded to three grass fires between June 12 and Aug. 20, according to a search warrant affidavit.

• The Coal Creek Fire was reported on June 12 east of Mount Pleasant.
• The Dinosaur Fire was reported on Aug. 8 southeast of Sterling.
• The Carp Fire was reported on Aug. 20 southwest of the Gunnison Reservoir. While responding to that incident, a smaller fire was spotted nearby and was dubbed the Carp 2 Fire, the warrant states.

The Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office said all of the fires were small and only grass was burned.

But according to the warrant, “All three fires have similar origins and it is suspected that all three are arson. It is also suspected that the fires could have been set by the same person(s) due to their similarity and time of day that the fires were set.”

The sheriff’s office confirmed Thursday the cases were still under investigation, and there is a good possibility that all were set by the same person, but the office did not have any other details to release.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2nFQhEG