THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609010071
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 111 lines
Sometime close to midnight, in a storage room next to the library of Princess Anne High School, someone lit incendiary material beside a display cabinet and vanished from the building.
Within minutes, an inferno engulfed the school and burned major portions of it to the ground.
It was one year ago today, and the trail is getting cold.
Of the dozens of leads, none is strong enough to build a case in the worst school fire in the city's history.
To fire investigators with an enviable record of solving cases and obtaining convictions, the Princess Anne fire is a frustrating reminder of how tough it can be sometimes.
``There's always a chance that we may never get the evidence that would lead us to assign responsibility for the fire,'' said District Chief Iby B. George, the city's chief fire marshal.
George was quick to add that fire investigators ``prefer not to think in those terms - we always try to think optimistically that there's going to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.''
FOUR DESKS, ONE FOR each officer, fill the small investigators' room in what was once the clerk of court's building in the Municipal Center. In black grease pencil in the middle of the active cases board, the words ``P.A. High School'' stand out - a daily reminder.
Chief Chase Sargent, a spokesman for the office, said the investigators ``have pretty much run into a dead end.''
Fire investigation, by its nature, is iffy, because there's often near-complete destruction of evidence.
``If you don't get it up front, it's really going to be a long, drawn-out investigation,'' George said. ``And you may never get it.''
George, 45, has since 1972 worked his way up from firefighter, investigator and battalion chief to fire marshal three years ago.
He shares the investigators' frustration.
``There are cases on file that we know were intentionally set, but we haven't gotten any closer to who did it,'' he said.
``There are some where gut feelings tell us exactly who did it, but again there's insufficient evidence to bring them to trial or obtain a conviction.''
It has been a mean year for the city's fire investigators, and last month was especially tough.
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, again near midnight, a fire ripped through an unfinished four-story building on Shore Drive that was meant to be a senior citizen complex. The blaze reduced two sections of the Sunstates House complex to a smoldering black heap and gutted the third, resulting in about $3 million damage.
It was the speed at which the fire advanced through the unfinished apartments that pointed to arson.
Techniques for detecting arson are surprisingly unsophisticated. A petroleum-sniffing dog flown in from North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation indicated a ``hit,'' the presence of combustible material. Off went the evidence to a state forensic lab in Richmond, and out went any doubt that the fire was accidental.
In this case, the trail is warmer.
``There are some suspects that they're looking at,'' George said. ``But the evidence is not yet sufficient for an arrest. They're still working on leads. It's a very active case.''
There are 32 ``active'' cases listed in black on the board in the investigators' office; 36 ``inactive'' cases are numbered in blue; 63 ``cleared'' cases in green. Red asterisks beside 27 of the cases signify that arrests have been made.
The cases are not handed over to police. All four investigators, as well as their captain, Stanley Foster, are sworn officers who make arrests and present cases to the commonwealth's attorney for prosecution.
All told, the office has looked into 360 fires since January and conducted 131 criminal investigations.
Some were no more than small house fires. Several were smaller school fires, most of them solved, but none related to Princess Anne High.
Just over a week ago, the investigators were again put to the test.
A fire of unknown origin raced through the Virginia Beach Farmer's Market, destroying about three-fourths of the wooden complex. Arson has not been ruled out. The state crime lab is examining evidence for the presence of incendiary material.
The Virginia Beach team has a 35 to 40 percent clearance rate - higher than the national average - and a conviction rate of more than 80 percent.
George said there's pressure to solve the high-profile fires, but ``most of that pressure's internal, because they're very good at what they do.
``They get frustrated when they can't find the answers.''
In the Princess Anne case, the trail is cold, but evidence continues to trickle in. As George points out, cases thought dead after 10 years have come alive with new evidence.
``Things come back and, oh wow, we find out something we didn't know 10 years ago.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
District Chief Iby B. George: Investigators are optimistic.
Color Graphic
A BUSY 12 MONTHS
Just since January, Virginia Beach fire investigators have:
Checked out 360 fires
Conducted 131 criminal investigations
Cleared 63 of those cases (27 resulting in arrests)
Continued to follow 32 active cases
Ruled the other 36 cases inactive
Includes Color photos
Sept. 1, 1995: Princess Anne High School (arson) There are no
suspects.
Aug. 6, 1996: Sunstates House retirement complex (arson)
Aug. 22, 1996: Farmer's Market ( the cause is under
investigation)
KEYWORDS: FIRE ARSON INVESTIGATION by CNB