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Fire investigators are looking for an arsonist who has set 80 fires south of downtown Omaha during the past decade, and they are asking for the public's help.
Omaha Fire Department officials have leads and “persons of interest,” but have been unable to make an arrest.
So far, the arsonist's damage has been limited to about $500,000 in property. But Battalion Chief John McCormick, head of the department's fire investigation bureau, said it's just a matter of time before someone gets hurt.
“With fires to homes and vacant houses, the potential for injury to firefighters and neighbors is there,” McCormick said.
Someone has the right information to put the arsonist behind bars before it's too late, McCormick said.
Investigators have identified patterns that link the fires to a single arsonist. McCormick said he couldn't detail how the arsonist operates because of the nature of the investigation, but he noted that most of the fires are set at night and lighted in a similar way.
The fires also fall within an area bounded by Leavenworth, Arbor, 10th and 24th Streets.
McCormick said the arsons started in 2000, stopped in 2008 and 2009, then resumed in 2010. From last spring through the end of August, there were 10 arsons, mostly at vacant houses. Seven of them were on 24th Street.
The arsonist also has targeted vehicles, garages and occupied homes, McCormick said.
“The person gets spooked sometimes, and that is why we have starts and stops,” he said.
The most recent fire attributed to the serial arsonist was Aug. 25, 2010, at a vacant ranch-style house at 2460 S. 19th St. The fire started in a crawl space under the front porch. Black burn marks still are visible from the rear of the home, which sits on a hill overlooking 19th Street. The windows are boarded up and the roof has a gaping hole.
The ravaged home was donated to Habitat for Humanity, which plans to build a new house on the site.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the most common motives for arson are: vandalism, excitement, revenge, to conceal a crime, profit and extremism.
McCormick said Omaha's serial arsonist probably is motivated by excitement and revenge.
In recent weeks, investigators have made several arson arrests unrelated to the serial fires. One grew out of domestic problems, and another involved a dispute between two people.
McCormick's unit, which includes six other investigators, has cleared about 30 percent of this year's arson cases. Last year, McCormick said, the unit cleared 27 percent of the 135 arsons it investigated.
That puts the unit's clearance rate in recent years above the national average of 18 percent.
Last year, the arson unit investigated 416 fires, 135 of which were determined to be arson.
Arson investigators go through the Omaha Police Academy to earn the authority to make arrests. McCormick, who has been an arson investigator for nine years, said his unit stays up on police and arson investigation techniques through annual training.
Determining whether a crime has been committed and by whom is complicated by the fact that some of the best evidence often is lost to flames and water, McCormick said.
“It's still easy to say it's arson, but it's hard to say who did it,” he said. “Ten percent of the investigation is done at the fire scene, but 90 percent of it is police work, interviewing people, following leads and working on reports.”
McCormick asks anyone with information about the serial arsonist to call the department's arson hotline, 402-444-FIRE (3473). Tipsters whose information leads to an arrest and conviction are eligible for a monetary reward.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com
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