Local firefighting officials say they have few leads about the identity of an arsonist who lit a series of small fires near Utah Lake this week and say they fear the arson is just beginning.
Utah County Fire Marshal Tom Wroe told the Deseret News his office is continuing an arson investigation on a set of small fires that occurred near of 4000 W. Harbor Parkway Tuesday and Wednesday nights."We had very little physical evidence to work with, although it indicates that the fires were multiple starts, suggesting arson," Wroe said
Crews from the Provo Fire Department were called out at approximately 8 p.m. on both nights to respond to small grass fires - four separate sets of fires on Tuesday night and one set on Wednesday. Though wet conditions have stymied both the investigation and the arsonist, Wroe said investigators will return to the fire sites soon.
Though Provo Fire was able to extinguish the blazes quickly, officials are afraid that, like previous arson cases, this one will escalate in frequency and severity, he said.
"We're scared, frankly. We had an arsonist last year who set a number of fires and went uncaught because of the problems involved in arson investigations. We wonder if this might be the same person."
Wroe said that investigations last year had turned up a number of suspects, though when the arsonist stopped, perhaps due to seasonal changes, the investigation bogged down.