The Levelland Fire Marshal’s Office has launched an investigation into two separate fires that sparked Monday morning. Both fires were believed to be set intentionally.
The first fire was reported just before 5:30 a.m. at an empty home on Houston Street near West Avenue.
“Once we got on scene we saw it had burned through the roof already. We put an attack on it, got it extinguished,” said Levelland Fire Marshal Jay McKay.
“During the course of our investigation we were able to find two different points of origin, and so we secured the scene for further investigation,” he said. McKay explained that the two individual fires in that home were set in the living room and a bedroom.
The second fire, which began a few blocks away on 10th Street near Avenue N, started less than two hours after the fire on Houston.
“Looked like they used some grass clippings, and set those grass clippings on fire. We extinguished that and we’ve got that one under investigation as well,” McKay said.
“[For the] first fire, looked like they just used ordinary combustibles,” he explained.
“We’re just looking for some suspects, trying to get information from people to lead us to the right person that was involved in it. Hopefully through some of the evidence we were able to collect, it’ll lead us to who we’re looking for,” McKay added.
McKay called the State Fire Marshal’s Office to get further assistance.
“Once I determine that it’s an arson, we’ll usually call in the state to bring in their canine to try to find an accelerant in there. We utilized them on both of these fires, they’re a great asset,” he said.
He said the first fire caused $35,000 in damage to the home, leaving it a total loss. The second fire created minor damage to the trailer, with a few hundred dollars worth of damage.
No suspect information was available Wednesday.
