May 14, 2008 1:12 pm US/Eastern
Cops Eye Arson Suspect In Fla. Wildfires
PALM BAY, Fla. (CBS) ―
The deputy police chief of a Florida town where at least 40 homes have been gutted by wildfires says authorities have arrested a man they believe may have sparked the blazes.
Palm Bay Deputy Police Chief Doug Muldoon says the man was arrested Wednesday morning.
Palm Bay police Chief Bill Berger said that 31-year-old Brian Crowder has been arrested on charges of violating his parole. He is a suspect in a small fire that was set early Wednesday morning less than a mile from where he was living. Further charges may be filed as the investigation continues.
Official said that there were a variety of existing warrents out on Crowder including drug charges, grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Police are obtaining a warrant to search Crowder's residence. He is currently being treated at Palm Bay hospital for dog-bite injuries to his lower leg that were sustained during the course of his arrest as he attempted to elude capture.
Palm Bay City Manager Lee Feldman revised the number of homes destroyed down to 22 from his earlier count of 62, saying that city policy is to use high-end estimates for planning purposes.
"We don't know if this suspect is tied to all or any of these fires at this point," Feldman said of Crowder.
The fires reported in Brevard County have burned roughly 10,000 acres, or more than 15 square miles. Officials say containment efforts are improving around the blazes.
The wildfires along the state's Atlantic coast have been believed to be the work of arsonists, but they were helped along by two classic Florida phenomenon: rampant development and a year-round growing season.
Experts said the fires reported in Brevard County have found ample fuel because the state has not been able to hold controlled burns near development to cut back vegetation.
That means firefighters are battling palmetto palms that should be knee-high, but have been allowed to grow for 20 or 30 years, said Dale Armstrong, senior forester with the state's Division of Forestry.
Florida's endless growing season and waxy plants that can burn while still green are also culprits, said Ken Outcalt, a research plant ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
"The fuels in Florida are mostly live plants, unlike in the West where it's usually dead fuel that's accumulated underneath the trees," he said.
The Brevard County fires present two kinds of firefighting challenges simultaneously because the vegetation is mixed so closely with homes. The buildings impede traditional forest firefighting techniques such as plowing lines of dirt in the flames' path or lighting backfires, Outcalt said.
Police have set up a special task force to catch the suspect or suspects who set the fires. They profiled "a trophy person," likely to brag of his or her work at some point.
"It's unconscionable that somebody would do this to another man or woman, put them in jeopardy," Gov. Charlie Crist said shortly after flying over the damaged areas where he declared a state of emergency.
The Florida Division of Forestry said 40 homes in the Palm Bay area were destroyed and about 120 other structures, including homes and outbuildings, were damaged. Officials said the total damage estimate was approximately $9.6 million.
CBS affiliate WKMG-TV in Orlando reports that one small, quarter-acre brush fire in Port St. Lucie was likely started by a teenage girl burning love letters, according to authorities.
A fire investigator believes that blaze started Monday night when a teenage girl set fire to love letters she wanted to destroy.
St. Lucie Fire District Deputy Chief Tom Whitley said no structures were damaged in the fire, which crews quickly controlled.
Early Wednesday officials said that containment efforts were improving around the fires in Palm Bay and nearby Malabar.
"We had pretty good weather last night, so the fire laid down and let us catch up a bit," said Todd Schroeder, spokesman for the state's Division of Forestry.
The destruction was hard for Veda VanFleet to fathom as she stood amid the charred remains of the two-story home her husband, Butch, built almost 30 years ago in Malabar. She remembered the treehouse her three boys used to play in out back and the basketball hoop in the front yard.
"It's gone. It's all gone," said VanFleet, who cried all day Monday and awoke with resolve Tuesday to pick through the ashes where she and her husband planned to rebuild.
Palm Bay schools were to be closed again Wednesday. Smoke and the proximity of the flames have caused the intermittent closure of major highways in the area, including a 34-mile section of Interstate 95 that was closed midmorning Tuesday.
"This really won't be over until it rains. Until it rains, the threat is going to be ever-present," said State Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate. Forecasts show little chance of rain until at least the weekend.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
