Craig Daily Press / Sheriff’s Office investigating fire

August 8, 2008

• Car fire reported early Thursday in Shadow Mountain Trailer Village

• Craig Fire/Rescue report indicates fire “suspicious in nature”

• No injuries reported, minor damage to nearby residence

• Sheriff’s Office investigation ongoing

Craig — Sgt. Courtland Folks, of the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office, continued an investigation Thursday night into a car fire reported earlier that morning and deemed by fire officials as “suspicious in nature.”

“We’re still investigating,” Folks said. “We’ll do some interviews this evening (to determine) the events that led up to it.”

The fire was reported about 12:54 a.m. Thursday in the 1100 block of Cottonwood inside the Shadow Mountain Trailer Village. The vehicle, a four-door Plymouth, was parked in the driveway of a residence, Folks said.

“It had been parked there in the driveway for some time,” the sergeant said.

Eight Craig/Rescue firefighters responded to the scene and found the car fire “fully involved,” Capt. Dennis Jones said. The fire was extinguished in about 10 minutes.

“We had it under control fairly quickly,” he said.

“It clearly started in the back of the car, in the seat,” Jones said. He stopped short of ruling the fire’s cause as arson, instead listing it on his report as suspicious.

He said the case has been turned over to the Sheriff’s Office and it will be left to the investigation to determine whether the fire was arson.

The car fire melted some siding on the residence, Jones said, causing minor damage. However, there were no injuries sustained to either the home’s residents or firefighters, he said.

Folks said the Sheriff’s Office was not ready to consider the fire arson yet and would instead wait “until we conclude which way it is.”