Juvenile arrested after blaze

A 15-year-old male subject was booked in Martin Hall on May 11 following an investigation after fire crews and local law enforcement officers responded to a bush fire next to the old high school near the agriculture shop in Ritzville.

At 9:25 p.m. on Saturday, the Adams County Sheriff’s dispatch center received multiple calls advising of a bush and tree on fire at the vacant building on Division Street.

Ritzville Police Sergeant Mark Cameron was two blocks away and responded to the scene from Columbia Street after witnessing five juveniles running away from the fire.

Upon contacting and identifying the juveniles, Cameron advised them to leave the area for safety purposes.

Cameron located the fire and discovered it burning in an evergreen bush on the Division Street side of the structure. He also discovered a gas can half full under the base of the bush and removed the item to prevent it from catching fire.

Around 14 volunteer firefighters arrived on scene as the flames traveled quickly up the bush, shooting flames nearly 30 feet high and emitting embers up to 50 feet in the air. Fire crews quickly extinguished the flames with the use of an estimated 750 gallons of water, according to a press release issued by Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick.

The follow-up investigation and interviews led to the arrest of the 15-year-old suspect who had been seen fleeing the scene by several witnesses.

Two female juveniles observed the suspect starting the fire and cooperated with the investigation by providing witness statements, according to McCormick.

The suspect had singed hair and eyebrows, a partially burnt tennis shoe and pants smelling of gasoline, according to the police report. The juvenile later admitted to starting the fire and was booked into Martin Hall on charges of Reckless Burning in the second degree, a gross misdemeanor, and an Adams County Juvenile Court curfew violation.

After the fire had been extinguished, fire crews noticed the exterior wall of the building had begun to bow outward from the second story windows at the top of building.

The bricks had separated and a noticeable crack led crews to deem the building unsafe and closed the block of Division Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

The defect in the building is not a result of the fire and had not been present when the building was inspected on May 1 the report stated.