Bethany Authorities Investigate Possible Arsonist

A neighborhood is on the lookout for possible arsonist.

Authorities are investigating reports of multiple fires near NW 39th & Council in just the last week -- three sheds and one home.

Tamra Fields was startled to see her shed engulfed in flames on Monday night.

"He [police officer] says your shed is on fire, and I'm like really?" Fields described the moments she was told to evacuate her home, "I quickly looked out the bathroom and it was just totally toast."

Fields' shed is one of three on in the 3800 block of Riverside Street reduced to rubble by the fires.

"I don't think there is anything salvageable," said Fields.

She is still counting her blessings though, just last week a home, one street over from hers, on in the 8900 block of Brownsville Lane went up in flames.

"I thought it was just a coincidence," Fields said all the recent activity in her neighborhood has changed her mind. "It is pretty obvious someone is starting them on purpose."

Bethany Fire Chief S.R. Hunter said it is too soon to determine if the fires are the work of a serial arsonist, just yet, but he did say the circumstances are suspicious.

"There are some similarities between the fire," Chief Hunter said due the proximity of the fires to each other and the type of structures burned, it is possible they are all connected. “You have got to at least start to think there is a pattern here."

He said investigators are aggressively working the case.

So far, witnesses reported seeing someone running from the scene in the drainage ditch that connects the two neighborhoods.

"It is very easy to get out there and get away unnoticed if that's your intent," said Chief Hunter

With each fire, Fields and her neighbors are getting more concerned for their safety.

"We all know criminals get more brazen," said Fields. "So, what happens when they start setting fires to houses and who are they going to kill or destroy then?"

The Bethany Fire Department is working closely with Bethany police. If you have information about the fires call detectives at (405) 789-2323