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  • A 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a home at 53203 Hilltop Drive in the Pine Hills subdivision near Middlebury, were damaged by fire early Sunday morning. Justin Cripe

    pine hills fire
June 25, 2012

Three new fires may be part of serial arsons

By JUSTIN CRIPE THE GOSHEN NEWS

MIDDLEBURY — The latest of a string of fires many are calling arsons took place inside a subdivision near Middlebury early Sunday morning.

Middlebury firefighters were called to the home of Brian and Stacie Mills, 53203 Hilltop Drive, inside the Pine Hills subdivision at approximately 3 a.m. According to Fire Chief Jeff Wogoman, when firefighters arrived, they found a car on fire, as well as the back of the home. Roughly a half hour after they arrived, they were also called to a trash can that had caught fire right down the street.

Wogoman called the fires “suspicious” and they are still under investigation, but residents of the subdivision located just south of Ind. 120 have had their guard up for a few months now.

Brian Mills said Sunday afternoon that he saw two men getting into a neighbor’s truck a few nights prior. Though nothing was missing from the truck, he and a neighbor decided to sit out and keep watch late Saturday night while his wife was at work and their two children and his nephew were asleep. He said that he stayed out until just before 2 a.m. and decided to head to bed. But at just before 3 a.m. he “heard a big boom.”

“At first I thought maybe it was fireworks because people have been shooting them off, but then I saw a giant ball of yellow,” Brian said.

That ball of yellow he saw was his 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee engulfed in flames in front of their home. The Jeep blew up “two or three times,” according to Brian, due in part to the freshly filled gas tank. At that point, Brian said he got the 8-year-olds children  and the 6-year-old child out of the house. That was when they noticed the back of the home was also in flames.

Thinking quickly, Mills used a garden hose to put out the fire on the side of the house before it spread to the roof and the insulation made things worse than it already was.

The rash of fires began in March when a shed, home and car were destroyed at three different properties, Pine Hills subdivision was quiet for almost two months, until another home was destroyed on May 17 and another on May 23. Mills noticed that typically when there is a fire, the culprit has been able to flee, and while firefighters are tending to the blaze, another one is being set nearby. There are no leads thus far on who is starting the fires, but there has been extra police patrol through the subdivision since March.

“Whoever’s doing this has guts that’s for sure,” Brian said.

Ken Pass, who lives right across the street from the Mills home, said that he heard a popping noise early Sunday morning when the fire had taken place, which was from the trash can that had been set on fire down the street. It was then that he realized that there was more than one blaze.

“It’s getting ridiculous that whoever is responsible is just so callous about this,” Pass said.

Stacie said that the rash of incidents has caused neighbors to look out for each other more than they had before.

“If there are people we aren’t used to seeing in the neighborhood, we call the park manager,” she said.

The scary link for the Mills family and others in the community is the fact that most of the victims have had small children in the home. There were no injuries Sunday morning, as Brian, the three children and two chihuahuas got out of the home safely. And insurance should cover the damages to the vehicle and home. For that the Mills family is grateful.

“I told the kids that things that we lost can be replaced. The most important thing is that everybody is OK,” Stacie said.

Anyone with information about any of the fires at Pine Hills subdivision may call the Middlebury Fire Department at 825-1492

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