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September 23, 2008
Arson fires damage portable toilets on Park Service property
By IRENE NOLAN  Four separate fires that damaged portable toilets at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore on Sunday, Sept. 21, were intentionally set, according to John McCutcheon, the seashore’s Hatteras Island district ranger. McCutcheon said the four fires caused more than $12,000 in damage at the portable toilets at the nature trail and picnic area, the overflow parking lot at the lighthouse, and at the old lighthouse site – all in Buxton – and also at the permanent restroom facility at the Haulover area between Buxton and Avon. In all, seven portable toilets were damaged and destroyed and the permanent facility at the Haulover had damage to its interior. Buxton and Avon fire departments responded to three of the fires, and no injuries were reported in any of them. All of the fires happened between about 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday. At the portable toilets in Buxton, McCutcheon said, the toilet paper was set on fire and shoved into urinals. An accelerant may have been used, he said. At the Haulover facility, the hand sanitizer was used as an accelerant. The worst of the fires was the one at the picnic area and nature trail in Buxton. McCutcheon said the fire there consumed the toilets, the fence around them, and a boardwalk. Bryan Perry, chief of the Buxton Volunteer Fire Department, said that when he arrived at the site, the fire was just starting to “get going on the trees.” “We were luck we got there when we did and that there weren’t bigger winds,” Perry said. McCutcheon said the Park Service is investigating several leads, but has no suspects at this time. Sunday was the first day of the Eastern Surfing Association’s championships on Hatteras Island. “Tension between local individuals, surfers, and the ESA exists,” said McCutcheon, “and leads are being pursued.” |
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