SBI arson investigators say no criminal activity caused Thursday night'sfire at the city utility lot. It appears to be some type of electricalproblem that led to nearly $100,000 in damage. The situation is not asbad as it looked at first, but the city is still left with a relativelyexpensive mess.
The town of Cary is short four trucks. There's not a whole lot left ofthe pick-ups that were used by sanitation and utilities supervisors.A Cary police officer was filling his car with gas at the city lot, whenhe heard a boom.
Lieutenant Steve Lee says the officer described the blast as sounding likea shotgun. The officer proceeded into the lot, then heard another boom.As he crested the hill, he was able to see that he had flames coming fromthe back of the building.
Investigators couldn't do much in the dark. They returned in the daylightto sift for clues. An SBI arson expert did the digging. Hisinvestigation concluded that no criminal activity was involved. Mike Clarkdrives one of the trucks that burned.
Clark says he was concerned to find his truck burned severely when he camein to work, especially since it's a brand new vehicle.
Cary police and town officials were very concerned. Someone targetingcity property could've been a big problem.
Lieutenant Lee says any time there's a fire in an isolated area, especiallyone in the middle of the night with nothing else around it, it'sconsidered suspicious.
It wasn't arson. No one was hurt, but it had the potential to be a lotworse. Cary's gasoline supply for the city fleet is nearby the location where the fire started. If the officer hadn't come along when he did, thesituation could've been a lot worse.
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