Arson suspected in at least 5 Mason County fires

SHELTON, Wash. — The Mason County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to track down suspected arsonists in the area.

Charred tree trunks and crisp pine needles can be spotted along the side of California Road near Shelton, where Mason County detectives are investigating three more fires that they believe were intentionally set this weekend.

“I would love to ask, ‘Why are you doing this?’” said Wendy Mathews.

Mathews lives about a mile away from the arson sites. She can’t understand why someone would light the forest on fire.

“To think that we’re at risk for somebody’s pleasure or whatever it is that’s motivating this, yeah, we’re furious,” she said.

Mason County Sheriff Casey Salisbury said there have been more than a dozen fires in the county this summer. Many were accidental, but investigators believe at least five were arson.

“It’s very concerning when you start having this many fires in an area. Obviously, it’s dry and there’s a lot of things that could set off a fire, but when our fire experts and our wildland firefighters and our people in the fire department are telling us that these are beyond suspicious, that’s very concerning that there are so many of those,” Salisbury said.

On Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Office released video of a truck at Shelton High School just after midnight July 17. Detectives said the truck entered the teacher’s parking lot and someone inside started a fire on the adjacent property that borders SHS to the north, behind the school’s three portable buildings.

The fire was small and was extinguished by Central Mason Fire and citizens who reported it.

A week later, on July 28 at 8:30 p.m., a white four-door car carrying three to four people was spotted throwing fireworks near suspicious fires on Agate Road. The fire burned more than a quarter-acre of timberland and placed Agate Store workers and nearby residents in danger.

“So far we’ve been very, very lucky that we haven’t had a circumstance where we’ve had anybody injured, but the longer this drags out, I feel like the chance of that goes up, and we certainly don’t want (that) to happen,” said Salisbury.

Contact the Mason County Sheriff’s Office with information or tips regarding the fires by emailing MCSOtips@co.mason.wa.us or call Det. Sgt. Rhoades at 360-427-9670 x627.

Cox Media Group