11 escape injury in Valdosta arson; one arrested

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September 23, 2012

11 escape injury in Valdosta arson; one arrested

Quinten Plummer The Valdosta Daily Times CNHI The Tifton Gazette Sun Sep 23, 2012, 08:14 AM EDT

VALDOSTA — Officers apprehended a man suspected of setting fire to a residence Thursday evening, but Fire Chief J.D. Rice said none of the 11 occupants were injured during the incident.

The fire occurred at a residence in the 700 block of East Adair Street at around 7:55 p.m., according to reports.

While the fire caused a minor amount of structural damage to the building, Rice said the residence suffered a large measure of smoke damage. But the fire chief said the worst thing about the intentional fire was that there were people inside at the time.

“The worst cases of arson are those when there are people inside during the fire,” said Rice. “We take all arsons seriously, but we take extra care to ensure that we apprehend the suspect when people are inside during these incidents. And obviously, the potential was definitely there for serious injuries.”

The incident stemmed from a domestic problem, said Valdosta Police Lt. Aaron Kirk.

“According to the report, the offender had been involved in an argument with his girlfriend and set some items on fire inside the house,” said Kirk. “He was taken into custody at the scene.”

Rice couldn’t say for sure what type of incendiary or accelerant was used to set the residence ablaze, but he could confirm the presence of a liquid accelerant.

“Some type of flammable liquid was used to accelerate the fire,” said Rice. “But we’ll have to wait on the crime lab reports before we can say for sure what it was exactly.”

Thursday afternoon’s violent storms pushed the capacities of the fire department, but Rice said firefighters kept churning away at threats around the city.

The Valdosta Fire Department responded to 71 storm-related calls within a four-hour period, said Rice.

“Our firefighters were extremely busy Thursday, but they still mustered up enough strength to extinguish the fire before it could do any real damage. We literally had every fire truck in the city responding to calls yesterday,” said Rice. “I want to thank the firefighters for the quick response to the scenes. And along with the Valdosta Police Department, we were able to apprehend the suspect.”

Dana R. Hilton Jr., 22, was arrested and charged with arson in the first degree, according to reports. He was transported to the Lowndes County Jail and his bail has been revoked, reports stated.

A jail booking photo was not immediately available Friday.

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