Suspicious fires prompt $1,000 reward from Milton-Freewater fire officials

MILTON-FREEWATER — Authorities are investigating a series of late-night wildfires near the Walla Walla River as suspicious, prompting officials to offer a reward for information leading to a conviction.

Crews with the Milton-Freewater Rural Fire and EMS responded around midnight Tuesday to two simultaneous blazes in rural Umatilla County. Operations Chief Reilly Miller said firefighters were dispatched at 12:21 a.m. to a straw bale stack fire that had spread into a stubble field on Cemetery Road, as well as a natural cover fire near Cache Hollow and Lincton Mountain roads.

The vegetation fire around Lincton Mountain Road and South Fork Walla Walla River Road burned approximately 15 acres of dry land before firefighters contained it.

Fire officials expressed growing concern over a recent pattern of unexplainable fires across the district.

“We are getting many fires in areas where we have no reason for them to be starting,” the agency said in a statement.

Milton-Freewater Rural Fire and EMS is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for setting the fires. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact local law enforcement or the fire department.

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Elkhorn Media Group