Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

One Arrested For Fires

A 16-year-old has been arrested in connection with three fires intentionally set Thursday, April 20.

The juvenile, according to Gurdon City Marshal David Childres, has been sent to Rivendell for psychiatric evaluation. Once this evaluation is complete, charges will be filed. Damage from the fires, he said, is estimated around $25,000.

The youth, he said, was a former student at Gurdon's ISS.

According to Childres, the suspect admitted burning the ALE-ISS building because he was mad at a teacher, and burned the house on Old Whelen Road because he didn't like the landlord. No reason was given for setting the daycare center on fire.

Area firefighters were kept busy battling the three different fires in Gurdon Thursday night, and four more on Friday night.

Childres said the Gurdon Police Department has a suspect in the Friday night fires, but no arrest has been made yet.

The fires, believed to be arson, damaged the home economics building at the old Gurdon High School, as well as the Hours of Joy Daycare Center. However, a home on the Old Whelen Road was completely destroyed.

Childres said the first report came in from the building used as an alternative learning environment and in school suspension (ALE-ISS) at the old GHS campus around 9:50 p.m.

The second call was about the house on Old Whelen Road, with this fire being reported around 10:25 p.m. The daycare blaze was reported at 10:38.

The daycare and home economics building were insured. The city insures the daycare as it owns the building, but is reimbursed by the Hours of Joy.

The Gurdon School District had the home economics building insured and Superintendent Bobby Smithson has already been in contact with the district's insurer, the Arkansas School Board Association.

According to Smithson, the majority of damage to the home economics building occurred in one small room at the north end of the structure.

There is evidence, he said, where fires were set in four different places in the room, while the curtains were set on fire as well.

A videocassette recorder was taken from the building, he added, while other equipment, including computers, were left behind.

Some equipment could be salvaged, Smithson said, including tables and chairs. It was not known as of press time if the electronic equipment had been damaged by the heat and smoke from the fire.

Childres said the ceiling in the ALE-ISS building was damaged by the fire and a hole burned in the roof.

Two bookshelves were apparently set on fire at the daycare. Firemen pulled them outside where they extinguished the flames. However, some smoke and water damage occurred to the interior of the facility.

Entry into the daycare, Childres said, was gained by kicking out a sheet of plywood put over a place where a window had been broken out from a recent burglary, in which the center was vandalized.

The front door to the ALE-ISS building was kicked in by the perpetrator(s), he said.

Little is known about the house on Old Whelen Road, other than it was owned by Norman Montgomery and was vacant at the time.

Childres said the fire apparently began in the rear of the house, but as it was completely destroyed by the flames, how anyone got in is a mystery. But, he speculated, with the hottest part of the fire being in the back of the house, this is probably where entry was gained.

No utilities were on at the house at the time of the fire, he added.

Smithson said he will talk with the Gurdon School Board about the fire and get its decision on what to do.

However, this building will probably not be rebuilt.

According to Smithson, the district had the building insured for replacement cost along with $12,500 for contents. In all, the district could get $88,000 for the building and $12,500 for its contents.

"We'll negotiate a fair settlement with the ASBA," he said. "The building was properly insured."

In the meantime, those students in the ALE and ISS will have no classrooms to go to. Smithson said they could be housed in a room in the vocational building where the cheerleaders practice, but the cheerleader sponsors would have to agree.

Otherwise, he said, the old agriculture building and band hall will have to be used and they aren't in good shape.

But, he added, if the district gets enough from the settlement, it could afford to build a new ALE-ISS building. While no location has been picked, Smithson said it would most likely be in the Highway 67 area with GHS and Cabe Middle School.

Childres said firemen from the GFD, Whelen Springs Volunteer Fire Department, Bierne VFD and Curtis VFD helped battle the blazes.

Firemen were on the scene until around 1:30 a.m. Friday.

However, about 24-hours later the GFD crews were back out battling four more fires inside the city limits.

Childres said houses at the corner of Fourth and Joselyn streets, Clark and Miller streets, Seahorn and Miller streets and Fourth and Miller streets were burned, apparently by the same person.

The fires, he said, were reported around 2 a.m. Saturday.

The houses at Seahorn and Miller and Fourth and Miller were completely destroyed. The structure at Clark and Miller was gutted, and was the only one occupied at the time.

However, Childres said, no one was home at the time of the fire.