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Published: July 01, 2009 09:48 pm    print this story  

Hinton fire chief hopes arrest stops arsons

By Amelia A. Pridemore
Register-Herald Reporter

Hinton’s fire chief hopes a string of suspicious fires that have terrorized city residents will finally come to an end after another suspect’s arrest.

Joseph Michael Brown, 29, of Hinton, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of first-degree arson. Brown remained in jail Wednesday on $200,000 bond.

Sgt. Michael Baylous of the State Police’s public affairs office said investigators were able to link Brown to a May 26 house fire at 100 Temple St.

Two other arrests were made in late May. Benny Lee Adkins and George Henry Ruff, both 20 of Hinton, were arrested May 28 and charged with third-degree arson in connection with a May 2 vehicle fire. However, both Adkins and Ruff were still in jail when an abandoned mobile home burned June 1.

Hinton Fire Chief Ray Pivont said he, too, is waiting to hear more information from investigators. However, he hoped the city’s arson nightmare that began in December 2007 has come to an end. More than 20 suspicious fires have been reported since then, and several were ruled arsons.

“I guess time will tell,” he said. “If the incidents stop, maybe we’ve got the person responsible. That has yet to be seen. I believe that if we don’t have fires, we’ve gotten to the bottom of our problem.”

The fires have taken their toll on the fire department and overall budget because of overtime costs, Pivont said.

“Hopefully, we’ll all have a little normalcy now,” he said. “Maybe people won’t be scared to go to bed at night.”

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com

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