Fire destroyed a historic building Tuesday night, used by Boy Scouts in Harrison County last night. The Harrison County Sheriff thinks someone may have set it.
It wasn’t just a building. The camp housed hundreds of boy scouts over the years: they slept there, ate there, became leaders there, since it was built in the 1960s.
Wednesday, yellow tape and smoke kept people away. It was a tough scene for scout member, Jim Swinford.
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“It’s going to affect us for a while because all our camping equipment is in there,” he says.
Thousands of dollars of supplies: gone. Around ten Tuesday night, fire destroyed the camp on Airliner Lane. Swinford was one of the first out there.
“You could see it so far away, and the sky was all lit up, it was bright,” he says.
As he watched, he couldn’t shake a nagging feeling.
“I’m going to be truthful. What was really going through my mind: was, it was set,” he tells LEX 18.
Swinford says that because over the last five years, vandals have done a number on the place: stripped wiring, broken windows, the list goes on. Could someone have set the fire? Sheriff Bruce Hampton seems to think so.
“It is suspicious,” Hampton says. “At this time we’re questioning people, see if anyone has ideas, and I’m narrowing it down.”
The investigation continues, but Swinford isn’t focused on that. He’s busy collecting new supplies, to get his scouts ready for summer camp.
“Matter of fact, I’ve had two to three people today,” Swinford pauses, choking up. “Say they’re going to help. So we’re going to survive. We’ll survive.”
Hampton says a fire marshal will be back out to the scene Thursday to investigate further.
