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October 23, 2008
Suspicious fire destroys NPS
campground fee kiosk
By IRENE NOLAN
Fire destroyed a fee kiosk at the entrance to the Cape Point Campground in Buxton early this morning, Thursday, Oct. 23.
“I think the cause of the fire is going to be undetermined at
this point,” said John McCutcheon, Hatteras Island’s head
district ranger. “But there is a strong suspicion of foul play
– or arson.”
McCutcheon also said that Dare County’s fire marshal, Doug
Remaley, said the blaze appeared to be a “set fire.”
This fire comes just a month after four separate fires damaged portable
toilets at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore on Sunday, Sept.
21. Those fires, park officials said, were intentionally set,
though there are still no leads and no arrests in the incidents. The
blazes caused more than $12,000 in damage to portable toilets at the
old lighthouse site, the overflow parking area, and the nature trail
parking and picnic area in Buxton and at the permanent restroom
facility at the Haulover area between Buxton and Avon.
McCutcheon said a visiting fisherman headed to Cape Point reported the
fire at 3:50 a.m. on Thursday morning. Both the Buxton and Frisco
volunteer fire departments responded. McCutcheon said he arrived
on the scene about 4:15 a.m. and that the fire was out by about 5 a.m.
The fee kiosk building, he said, was a total loss. He said a
rough estimate of the damage would be about $50,000. That
includes a fee vending machine that was valued at more than $25,000.
The campground is closed, and the fee kiosk is shut down.
McCutcheon said that an electrical fire has not been ruled out. Power
is still on to the building, though apparently turned off at the
electrical box inside the building.
“But,” he said, “looking at the burn patterns, we
think there is more evidence that it was foul play or arson.”
The most intense fire, McCutcheon said, said was on a long handicapped ramp and a porch outside the building.
“It appears the fire was started there,” he said.
This fire was larger and caused more damage than the fires at the portable toilets.
“Unfortunately, with arson,” McCutcheon said, “the
arsonists tend to progress. They want to see bigger and better
things, so I am concerned.
Anyone with information about the fire, can call Hatteras Island district ranger McCutcheon at 995-5041.
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