Two fires deemed suspicious

A fire that destroyed an abandoned camp car on railroad tracks near 12th and Easy streets was the second fire classified as suspicious in nature on Tuesday.

The car was on a railroad spur behind the former Emerson Electric building, 1315 N. 13th St.

“It hadn’t been used in years and was likely an intentionally set fire,” said Tom Jenkins, fire chief.

Firefighters were dispatched at 6:57 p.m. The fire was reported by someone driving on 13th Street, Jenkins said.

“By the time the call came in to us it was rocking enough you could see it,” Jenkins said of the fire.

There was no hydrant near the gated area and a small grass fire started before firefighters got the blaze under control, Jenkins said.

It was the second fire near railroad property Tuesday. Firefighters were called to a burning storage building at Arkansas and Union streets at 3:16 p.m., and the cause of that fire was also classified as suspicious.

The two fires occurred 13 blocks apart, Jenkins said, and investigators have not ruled out a connection.

The railroad car had metal skin, but there was a wooden frame supporting it. It was ruled a total loss, Jenkins said.

A camp car is used by track workers when they are away from home, said Ron Sparks, chief of railroad police for the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. Railroad police are investigating the incident, but the camp car was owned by a third party and was on private property, he said.

Anyone who was tampering with the rail car would have been trespassing and putting themselves in danger, Sparks said. Rail cars can break loose and pin an arm or a leg, he said.

“It’s very dangerous when you’re messing around rail cars,” Sparks said.

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