“They were intentionally set,” Casey said. “We know that.”
The fires all started between 11 p.m. and midnight on June 17 and June 18. Casey said he is investigating a suspicious vehicle seen in the area at the time of the fires but said it would be inappropriate for him to give a description of the car at this point in the investigation.
Holland Fire Chief Coleman Brenner said there is a person of interest in the case.
“It looks like an accelerant was used,” he said.
Brenner said a whole row of round hay bales was on fire by the time Holland crews arrived to assist Bartlett firefighters in putting out some 17 bales on the property of E.C. Spiegelhauer Jr. located on Harbor Road.
That first fire was called in about 11:30 p.m. on June 17. A Bell County deputy was in the area a half-hour earlier but saw nothing suspicious, Brenner said.
A Bartlett fireman on the way out to the fire reported a single hay bale on fire on FM 487.
At about the same time on June 18, another fire started on Spiegelhauer’s property and he lost 15 more hay bales.
“We were able to save everything else,” said Rob Spiegelhauer, E.C’s son. “We used a tractor and plowed a fire braid to keep a corn field from catching fire.”
It took about four hours each night to extinguish the fires.
“We’ve had a few sleepless nights since then,” Spiegelhauer said. “A person wonders what’s next, a structure, a home - you never know.”
As firefighters worked to put out the fire at the Spiegelhauer’s property, another fire was reported about a mile away at a property on Pecan School Road. That fire burned 30 bales.
Casey asked anybody with information about who may have set the fires to call the fire marshal’s office at 933-5589.
