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  • This trailer and the adjoining storage shed were the scene of a fire Wednesday morning, Sept. 9. The cause of the fire has been determined to be arson, one law enforcement official said. Photo by Julie Clark

    Arson Fire

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September 15, 2009

Plano trailer fire ruled as arson; owners report items missing

By Michael Schaffer - Managing editor

An official with the Appanoose County Sheriff's Office has confirmed the fire at 11955 118th Ave. in Plano on Wednesday, Sept. 9 is being treated as arson.

Deputy Keith Glosser said the manufactured double-wide house trailer co-owned by Robert Eugene Atwell and his son, Jeffrey Dean Atwell, sustained approximately $15,000 in damage from two separate fires. He said a nearby wooden storage shed also burned.

The Mystic Fire Department arrived at the scene at 8:18 a.m. and used 10 firefighters to fight the fire. They called for mutual aid from the Moravia Fire Department and six responded.

"We had the fire pretty well out and we was getting pretty well wore down and we was running low on air so I had them paged for mutual aid for (air) packs," Mystic Fire Chief Phil Hudson said.

Hudson said the trailer appeared to be a total loss.

"The outside you can't really tell that much damage but the inside, the north end was gutted real bad and it's all smoked up," he said. "And where the other fire was started the couch was burnt and the floor was burnt."

While at the scene, authorities found a suspicious looking device constructed to look like a bomb inside the trailer, Deputy Glosser said, which was taken by the State Fire Marshal's Office to be examined.

"There was a device, a kind of a homemade device used that did not get destroyed in the fire," he said. "It was constructed similar to, like they was trying to make it be out like a bomb."

Besides the fire, both owners reported to authorities that several items were missing from inside the trailer.

Glosser said the Law Center received the call at 7:54 a.m. and it was reported by a neighbor.

No one was in the structures at the time of the fires and no injuries were reported.

Deputy Glosser said no arrests have been made in connection with the arson and thefts.

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