KAIT: Authorities believe four house fires at Diaz connected

Region 8 News KAIT is reporting fires that destroyed four homes on two sets of properties in Diaz are likely connected to arson.

On Wednesday night, the Diaz Fire Department was dispatched to a scene on Holden Street where four abandoned houses on both sides of the street were on fire. According to a Facebook post from the DFD (see below), the fires were allowed to burn out due to the advanced state of the fires, the poor condition of the homes, and the overgrown bush. The post said that no injuries were reported, and units cleared the scene around 11:30 p.m.

According to the Region 8 story, Diaz Fire Captain Tory Ross said he could not believe the size of the flames when he responded to the scene, telling the Jonesboro television station that he noticed the fires were similar to one the department responded to last month.

Ross told Region 8 the recent fires were likely “all-out arson” and related to each other, noting something similar happened years earlier.

“This has actually been going on for a few years sporadically,” he said. “A few years ago houses down here at the end (of the street) burnt just different times period.”

The captain told the station such fires at abandoned homes are dangerous, not only for an understaffed volunteer fire department responding to the scene, but also to other neighborhoods — and other lives.

“If we are coming out for an incident such as like an arson or something like that, it can cause some serious damage,” Ross said. “Not to mention, it can also catch other property on fire that occupied or burned something that is more valuable.”

To read the Region 8 story, click here.

Featured image: Screenshot of Wednesday night’s fires from Diaz Fire Department Facebook page