Poplar Bluff police are turning to the public for help after it was determined a large March 6 fire at Quality Tech Transmission and a neighboring house on Victor Street were set intentionally.
The fire was large enough to require a full callback of all city firefighters.
Surveillance video from a nearby pawn shop shows an individual setting fire to 316 W. Victor St., said police chief Danny Whiteley.
“Approximately at 7 p.m., we have surveillance video that indicates the fire was intentionally set at that location,” Whiteley said Monday.
From that location, the fire spread southwest to the transmission shop, barely missing a second house on the corner of the street.
The house at 316 W. Victor, fire chief Ralph Stucker said, was heavily damaged, while the transmission shop reopened for business two days after the fire.
“I don’t believe anybody was living in the house. I think it was unoccupied for about two weeks,” Stucker said.
Officials were unable to determine which direction the suspect came from, said Detective Dan Mustain, “but after the fire started, they went east on Victor.
The surveillance video, which has been posted to the police department’s Facebook page seeking comments, has been sped up to compress time, and the suspect spent considerable time trying to light the fire, Mustain said.
“It looked like he was working at it for a while to get it started.”
The fire is “definitely going to be arson,” said Stucker, who noted in the video “you can see it flare up.”
The video is blurry and dark, Stucker said, but the result is obvious.
“It would be nice if there was a good, defined picture of who that is, but we know what happened,” Stucker said.
Della Moore from the State Fire Marshal’s Office also is investigating the fire and is working with the police department, Stucker noted.
“She’ll work with the police department and we’ll get a report from them whenever they get everything processed,” Stucker said.
The police department, Whiteley said, is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect, “contingent upon the kind of information given.”
Anyone with potential information is asked to call Mustain at 573-686-8632.
Whiteley said given the seriousness of the situation, the suspect should be considered dangerous.
“Obviously, we have some arsonist that doesn’t care about people or property, and with a mindset like that, you have to consider them a dangerous individual,” he said.