HUNTINGTON — City police have arrested a local man and charged him with setting a fire that damaged a vacant house next door to his own residence.
The incident happened just after 8 a.m. Wednesday at an abandoned, brick structure in the 1300 block of Charleston Avenue. No injuries were reported.
The suspect, Vinson R. Higginbotham, 27, was charged with felony first-degree arson and released on bond, according to court documents.
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Huntington Police Capt. Rick Eplin said video surveillance played a critical role in identifying a suspect.
Investigators believe the assailant thought the building was an eyesore and that setting it on fire would push it closer to demolition, Eplin said.
The captain took exception with any such line of thinking, calling it illegal and dangerous.
“It just presents so much of a danger to everybody around there,” he said. “It creates a dangerous situation for (the firefighters) potentially, the people that live next door who could suffer from property damage or loss of life if the fire spreads.”
A nearby surveillance camera twice spotted a man outside of the abandoned residence just before the fire. He then implicated himself to police as being the person who ignited it, according to a criminal complaint filed in Cabell County Magistrate Court.
Firefighters arrived on scene Wednesday to find smoke coming from the second floor. Once inside, they discovered fire smoldering inside of the wall. It was quickly extinguished and contained to that one area.
Quick detection and a quick response from city firefighters were credited with limiting damage. Otherwise, police and fire authorities estimate flames could have engulfed the building in 10 minutes and endangered neighboring houses in 20 minutes.
Eplin said investigators believe Wednesday’s fire was an isolated incident.
They do not think it is connected to many other suspicious fires in the city.
