Catoosa County Fire Department investigators are asking for help identifying a man caught on security camera video setting fire to a building in Fort Oglethorpe on Wednesday.
According to Catoosa County spokesperson John Pless, the fire was started at 12:16 a.m. on Wednesday at a building at the corner of Lafayette Road and Riddle Street.
Security camera video shows a man dressed in a hoodie walking toward the back of the building. Three minutes after he arrived at the back of the building, the fire appears to begin. The man can then be seen walking, then running from the scene toward Cross Street.
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Catoosa County and Walker County firefighters responded after the fire was reported to 911 and quickly extinguished the flames, containing the damage to the outside siding and the edge of the roof.
Pless said the fire was started using an accelerant on the stairs leading to a back door and then spread up along the wall of the building. He pointed out the similarity between how this fire started and how recent fires in Rossville and Catoosa County's Lakeview community are believed to have started.
Contributed Photo from John Pless / Catoosa County fire investigators are asking for help identifying an arsonist after a building at the corner of Lafayette Road and Riddle Street was set on fire Wednesday."This fire is the latest in a series of deliberately set fires in northern Catoosa and Walker counties," he said in a statement. "In recent weeks fires were deliberately set to several homes in the Lakeview community and in the Rossville community of Walker County. The fires were started in the overnight and pre-dawn hours using an accelerant from outside the buildings."
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The last in a string of three house fires in the Lakeview community was reported two weeks ago on Oct. 5. The two homes to catch fire earlier this summer were vacant and undergoing renovations, but the third residence, on Magnolia Street, was not empty when the blaze was set. The family inside was able to escape safely, though the home itself reportedly suffered extensive damage.
Shortly after the third fire, Pless said the county was dedicated to finding whoever is responsible.
"We want people to be more aware for their own safety but also so they can let us know if they notice anyone or anything strange," he said. "Folks living in that area are understandably a little shaken up by all of this, as are we."
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The Catoosa County Fire Department is working with Walker County Fire Rescue and the Georgia State Fire Marshal's Investigations Unit to investigate the cause of Wednesday's fire in Fort Oglethorpe and the other recent fires in Catoosa and Walker counties.
A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered to those who provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. Tips can be called in to the Georgia Arson Control Hotline at 800-282-5804, the Catoosa County Fire Department at 706-861-4194 or Walker County Fire Rescue at 706-539-1255.
Contact Kelcey Caulder at kcaulder@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @kelceycaulder.