While most Boone County residents were at home with friends and family celebrating the beginning of 2007, at least one person was committing arson, according to officials.

Early in the hours of New Years Eve, volunteer fire departments from across the county responded to a series of fires in the Quinland area which destroyed a vacant home, a mobile home that was being renovated and a local bar that had been closed for at least three years.

Boone County 911 Director and Madison Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jim Lambert outlined the series of incidents that took place last weekend.

Lambert said that at 12:32 AM the 911 Center received reports of a car fire. Madison Volunteer Fire Department units responded to the scene quickly. While on scene the owner of the vehicle fell and was injured requiring transport to the hospital.

While firefighters were still on the scene of the car fire, a bystander notified them of a second fire located at 4627 Pond Fork Road. When they arrived on that nearby scene, units arrived to find a vacant trailer fully involved in fire. At that time, Lambert called for assistance from Danville VFD units.

While on the scene of the trailer fire, fire units from Madison units observed heavy smoke coming from the building which formerly housed Bulls Bar located at 4938 Pond Fork Road. Madison dispatched one engine that was fighting the trailer fire to the fire building at Bulls around 1:20 AM.

Ten minutes later, While Madison and Danville fire units were engaged in battling the trailer fire and structure fire, firefighters were notified by a passing motorist that there was a house fire below the location of the trailer fire. At that time, units from Madison, Danville, Van, and Morrisvale were dispatched to respond to the 3rd structure fire of the morning. The house, located at 3918 Pond Fork Road was unoccupied at the time and had been recently sold, according to the former owners.

In addition, there were two automobile accidents which took place near the fire scene at the same time, further taxing the resources of the fire units.

Lambert said that in total, there were four fire units involved in the incidents, including Madison, Danville, Morrisvale, and Van. Additional fire units from Wharton were placed on stand-by and the Racine fire department moved one of their engines to the Madison fire department for stand-by.

He said that arson has been determined to be the cause of all the fires, and the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office has been called in to investigate. On Tuesday morning, arson investigators were on scene collecting evidence. The Boone County Sheriff’s Department is also involved in the investigation.

Lambert noted that seventy firefighters were involved in battling the blazes or were on stand-by for the fires. “The County wide Mutual Aid plans were put to the test and worked,” he said. ”No areas of the county were without fire protection. Firefighters were able to rely on move-up plans to cover areas whose departments were dispatched to assist fighting the fires. Also some citizens in the area of the fires assisted the fire departments. We wanted to thank the people of the community who assisted the fire departments. Your help was appreciated. ”

While only one person was injured in the fires, Lambert pointed out that the incident could have turned tragic quickly. “One of the biggest causes of firefighter injuries are fighting the blazes and secondarily, being struck by motorists passing the fire scenes. That is the main reason we usually shut down the road around structure fires. Also, we often have to run fire hoses across highways to nearby fire hydrants, and it is very dangerous for a vehicle to drive over them.”

Any person having any information concerning these fires should contact the WV State Fire Marshal office at 1-800-233-FIRE.