3 teens arrested for Boulder City fires

By Jean Reid Norman, Cassie Tomlin

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 | 1:28 p.m.

Three teenagers were arrested Sunday in Boulder City on arson charges after firefighters and police responded about 5 p.m. to two fires within a block of each other.

The fires were started in trash bins within minutes of each other at Avenue B and Sixth Street and in the parking lot of 870 Avenue B, detective Brett Wibrew said. They had been ignited with fireworks.

While police and fire officials were investigating the scene, fireworks went off down the street, Wibrew said, and the three teens, ages 13, 14 and 16, were caught and questioned.

The three told police about a third, similar fire that had gone unreported at Oasis Park. Wibrew said evidence at that scene showed it also had been started with fireworks.

The teens, who were charged as juveniles, were taken to the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center in Las Vegas, Wibrew said.

Boulder City police and Fire Department investigators are still looking into four other fires last month that they believe were intentional and related, three that destroyed residential property. Another five fires from June to August may also be suspicious, they said.

The teens told police Sunday was the first night they had set fires, Wibrew said.

Three of the October fires were set within hours of each other late Oct. 9 and early Oct. 10, he said. One destroyed a backyard deck on Mount Williamson Way, another a shed and part of a backyard on Kendrick Place and the third one a tree on Eighth Street, he said.

Another fire sometime between Oct. 18 and 22 destroyed a tree in the 900 block of Fairway Drive, Wibrew said. The fire went undiscovered for several days, he said.

All four of the October fires were determined to be intentionally set and appear to be related, Wibrew said.

It was the latest in a series of nine blazes since June, all but one near Georgia Avenue and Adams Boulevard, that police and fire officials are investigating. The earlier fires were in trash cans and brush.

Six of the nine blazes were found to be set by humans and the others are of an undetermined cause, Wibrew said.

No one has been injured in any of the fires, he said.

The similar nature of the fires caused the Police Department to start looking for an arsonist, Wibrew said.

"I started seeing a consistency," he said.

Fire Chief Kevin Nicholson said fire investigators are working with detectives to find the people responsible.

"What is concerning is when you have several ones similar in nature and no reasoning behind them," Nicholson said.

Police are asking anyone with information to call 293-9224.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected]. Jean Reid Norman can be reached at 990-2658 or [email protected].