Two arrested for alleged part in string of wildland fires

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June 29, 2009

By DAN HEATH The Press Republican Mon Jun 29, 2009, 06:06 PM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — Two teenagers have been charged with a string of wildland fires in the Morrisonville area.

New York State Police based in Plattsburgh said Chad R. Smith, 17, of Morrisonville and a 15-year-old were charged Sunday with fifth-degree arson, a misdemeanor.

Police believed they have been involved in more than 20 wildland fires within the Morrisonville Fire District since April.

Smith was issued an appearance ticket and will appear in Schuyler Falls Town Court on Thursday.

The 15-year-old male, whose name is not being released because he has juvenile-offender status, was issued an appearance ticket for Clinton County Family Court and released to his mother.

Clinton County Emergency Services Director Eric Day said a lot of manpower and equipment was expended to fight these unnecessary fires. Although they were in the Morrisonville Fire District, which covers parts of the towns of Plattsburgh and Schuyler Falls, many of the fires required mutual aid and standby assistance from neighboring departments.

“It still displaces a lot of volunteers from their day-to-day activities,” Day said.

Fire locations included Treadwells Mills, the Clinton County Fairgrounds, Morrisonville, Rand Hill Road, Mason Street and Kent Falls Road.

One afternoon, there was a string of fires near trails along the Saranac River behind the former Clinton County Airport property. That fire and others saw up to five or six departments work for hours to bring them under control.

Wildland fires are fairly common in April and May, often caused by careless disposal of burning materials or landowners’ brush-burning efforts, Day said.

The fires usually become less common as vegetation greens from spring rains, but that didn’t happen this year, as fire crews had to respond to fires with unfounded causes almost daily until early June.

Day said the State Police, Clinton County Office of Emergency Services, Morrisonville Fire Department, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Forest Rangers and New York State Park Police were involved in the extensive investigation.

“The investigation and its results shows great interagency cooperation on the part of both state and local fire and law-enforcement agencies,” he said in a news release.

While the youths face only a misdemeanor charge, Day said, it at least starts a record of their activity. He said fire departments are required to do an arson background check on potential firefighters, so they won’t be able to join a fire department.

Day cited U.S. Fire Administration statistics that report $878 million was lost in arson fires in 2007, with 295 deaths related to intentionally set fires.

“I am happy no one, including either of the two young men or any of the fire-service first-responders, were injured or killed as a result of these fires,” he said.

E-mail Dan Heath at:

dheath@pressrepublican.com