Fire Investigation Leads to Ten Arrests

The Grants Pass Department of Public Safety speaks out about an arson investigation that has led to ten arrests. During the past month police believe they've solved 34 fires; each started, they believe, by one or more of these same ten suspects.

"These were deliberate fires," says Deputy Chief Laura Zeliff.

After interviewing more than 100 people Zeliff says she thinks they're nearing the end of their investigation. Of the 50 fires they set out to solve, most now have suspects connected to them.

"There are specific areas that had significant potential to cause significant damage, injury, or potentially death," says Zeliff.

Two of the fires police believe they solved happened by the old city water tower. That happens to be in the general area of the suspects' home who prosecutors call the ring leader. But perhaps the most significant fire happened across town at Morrison Centennial Park. That's nearby another lead suspect's home. Police believe that suspect, along with the so-called ring leader, was involved in the majority of the fires.

Police say the centennial park fire some of the suspects are charged with was a turning point in their investigation. The small community park suffered about $40,000 in damages and spurred investigators into action.  They say the nature of the fires seemed to be getting more serious.

"They were escalating to where you might have someone start out with burning a trash can at a park. Then it goes to a playground structure, etc," says Detective Archie Lidey.

Police aren't saying exactly how the fires were started to prevent others from trying the same things.

"We can say that many of these items that were used are common household items, easily obtained chemicals or accessible fuels," says Zeliff.

Only one of the suspects is an adult, 18-year-old Jonathan Davis. The rest range from 13 to 15-years-old.

The Juvenile Justice Department's Director says they like to have specialized probation officers to handle certain case loads. She says they have officers for sex offenses and gang activity, but they've never had to deal with such a large scale arson investigation. She says they plan to train a probation officers to deal specifically with this group of arson suspects if they're found guilty.