A local fireman says someone is setting the countryside on fire near Soap Lake.
Grant County Fire District 7 Chief Kirk Sheppard says there were a total of nine fires that occurred between April 10 and May 31. Six of those fires happened within days of each other at the same abandoned homestead on High Hill between the 10th of April and the 28th of May, claiming an unoccupied home and eight outbuildings. The flames also claimed three large haystacks on three different properties nearby with the latest happening the morning of May 31 on Dry Coulee Road.
Sheppard says he’s positive that these fires are the doing of a person but the motive remains unclear.
"We have somebody or somebodies that are out for fun, for profit or whatever that is, for some unknown reason setting fires. It's suspicious to us that these stacks have been sitting here in some cases six, seven, eight months and just catch on fire and burn up," Sheppard told iFIBER ONE News.
If it is confirmed as arson, Sheppard says the person setting the fires isn’t getting a thrill from it because they’re leaving the area once the fire starts.