A Temecula man was arrested Friday, July 29 for allegedly breaking into his ex-lover’s apartment and starting a fire. Jack Wayne Hill, 45, was arrested on suspicion of arson, burglary, making criminal threats, vandalism and stalking and booked into the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta. Bail information was not immediately available.
According to Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Jon Wade, deputies had been called to the apartment in the 28800 block of Pujol Street, just west of Interstate 15, over the past week to contend with complaints that Hill was allegedly harassing the victim and had caused damage to her vehicle.
The woman, whose identity was not released, obtained a criminal protective order Wednesday, barring the construction worker from coming close to her or her residence, Wade said.
About 8 a.m. this morning, Hill allegedly went to the property, forced his way inside and ignited a fire. County fire personnel were the first to respond but discovered that the sprinkler system in the building had doused the flames.
Deputies located the suspect at his job site, where he was taken into custody without incident. Court records show no documented felony or misdemeanor convictions for Hill in Riverside County.
A small fire created heavy black smoke at Alcoa’s facility at 101 RTI Way, but the sprinkler system extinguished the fire, employees were evacuated from the building and no one was injured, according to Kenny Shumate, division chief of operations for Henry County Public Safety.
He said the cause of the fire had not been determined and probably will be investigated by engineers. Something apparently caused hydraulic fluid to be released unto a huge press, he said. He did not have a damage estimate. The fire was reported shortly before 11:30 a.m., Shumate said. In all, 18 or 19 people from Henry County Public Safety, Martinsville Fire Department, Henry County Sheriff’s Department, Collinsville and Bassett fire departments, Henry County Public Service Authority and Appalachian Power responded.
A company spokesman said in an email: “We can confirm there was a fire at an Alcoa facility in Martinsville, VA on Tuesday. There were no injuries and the facility sprinkler system extinguished the fire. The impact to production is expected to be minimal, with no impact to customers.”
The Office of the State Fire Marshal says they responded to reports of a home fire in Salisbury, Tuesday morning. Around 9 AM, the owner of the home, located on Stream Valley Court, noticed fire damage, called it in, and the Salisbury Fire Department became the first responders. The fire reportedly happened earlier in the morning, while the home was unoccupied, at which time the sprinkler system activated and extinguished most of the fire.
The damage was not discovered by the homeowner until they apparently returned to the home around 8:30 AM on Tuesday. According to the report, it took 15 firefighters about five minutes to control the flames, which originated from the basement wall/ceiling assembly. Officials say that the preliminary cause is thought to be accidental, with the fire resulting from a lightning strike.
The county courthouse and government center was closed Tuesday morning after a car fire in a below-ground parking garage flooded the building with smoke.
“They tried to fight it with fire extinguishers, but it just got ahead of them,” said Delaware County Council Chairman Mario Civera. “The sprinklers went off and the fire department was called in.”
Civera said the fire broke out about 8:20 a.m. and was brought under control within 20 minutes. The car was in a corner of the B-level of the parking garage directly underneath the government center.
The building does not open to the public until 8:30 a.m., but Civera said some employees and cafeteria staff were already inside. Park Police attempted to use fire extinguishers and hoses before the sprinklers kicked in, he said.
“Everybody was evacuated, everybody came out safe,” Civera said.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Civera said there were about 75 or 100 cars already in the garage at the time the fire broke out and that employees would be able to retrieve their vehicles Tuesday morning.
Employees and citizens crowded the surrounding sidewalks Tuesday morning as they waited for word on the building. Civera made the call to close the buildings for the day at about 10 a.m., but said the building would re-open Wednesday.
“We want to make sure all the numbers are right, the carbon monoxide level is where it’s supposed to be, the sprinkler systems is intact, so it can accept the public and the employees (Wednesday),” he said. “We just want to make it’s a safe place for tomorrow for the residents and for the employees.”
Upper Darby Mayor Tom Miccozie, who also serves as the county’s director of risk management, said the county does a lot of planning and drills twice a year for just such an emergency. He praised the park police for employing extinguishers as they were trained to do and employees who “acted 100-percent the way they should.”
Micozzie said there was no need to open windows in the complex, which has carbon monoxide detectors installed.
“The fire company is checking now for carbon monoxide levels throughout the whole complex,” he said. “Cleanup companies are already on scene, they’ll do their work with some aromatic sprays, make sure that all our buildings are safe and then we’ll reopen tomorrow morning.
Responding crews included Media, Rose Tree, Springfield, Aston and emergency medical services. Eddystone also lent a hovercraft to the effort, which was backed up to the garage exit with its fan active in an attempt to clear out smoke. Civera praised the first responders for their quick and professional response to the alarm.
“They were here right on the money,” he said. “Thank God nobody got hurt.”
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Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
