Arson Suspected In Three Fires At Same Property

POSTED: 6:39 am PDT October 2, 2008

UPDATED: 5:29 pm PDT October 2, 2008

GRESHAM, Ore. -- Firefighters are investigating a series of suspicious fires at a property in Gresham.

Officials said firefighters were called to a house at 27849 Orient Drive three times in a 13-hour span.

They were first called to a trailer fire on the property Wednesday around noon and again just a few hours later when it appeared someone set a barn on fire.

At around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, firefighters returned to the property for a third time and found the house fully engulfed in flames.

No one was inside the home and no injuries have been reported from any of the fire calls.

The house had been vacant for about a year at the time of the fires, family members said.

But it seems that there’s been a long-standing family dispute over the fate of this property, and that’s why one relative thinks these fires were not random.

The cause of the fires is still under investigation, but firefighters consider the three blazes to be suspicious.

Arson investigators and Multnomah County sheriff's deputies were at the scene of the fire Thursday.

Firefighters said by 12:30 a.m. Thursday, a trailer on the property, the barn and the main house were all burned to the ground.

Fire crews were able to stop the flames from spreading, but there was no power turned on in the buildings and there was no lightning, which led investigators to think the fires were set on purpose.

Angie Hart grew up in the house and the property used to belong to her grandparents.

But she said since they passed away there has been an ongoing family dispute over what to do with the property.

That’s why she said she doesn’t think the fires were random.

“Look at it, if it’s all burnt to the ground, he doesn’t have to pay to bulldoze it, doesn’t have to pay any money on it,” Hart said.

Fire investigators won’t say if they have any suspects yet or even a person of interest.

But the deputy chief of Gresham Fire said that in his 35 years on the job, he has never seen this many arsons in one spot in such a short amount of time.