Investigators rule Lee County bridge fire arson

Sep. 23--TUPELO -- Local and state fire investigators have ruled the Tuesday morning fire that damaged a historic wooden bridge in rural Lee County to be arson.

"We do believe the bridge was deliberately set on fire," said Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson. "Investigators with the Lee County Sheriff's Office and the State Fire Marshal's Office have gathered evidence and sent it off to the state crime lab.

"We are actively working this case as arson," the sheriff said.

Fires were deliberately set in two locations on the County Road 1213 bridge over Twenty-Mile Creek in the Pratts community, burning holes through the road deck. While the surface damage appears small, officials are more concerned about what may have happened when the creosote underneath caught fire.

"Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire before it completely destroyed the bridge; however, the bridge is heavily damaged to a point it cannot be crossed safely," Johnson said. "It is a public road, but we had to close it. There is no traffic allowed on this bridge."

The bridge fire was reported around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 22. It was one of three possible arsons the same morning in Lee County. A vacant house in the Eggville community was reported on fire before 8 a.m., and around 10 a.m., an abandoned trailer was found burning near the industrial park south of Verona.

"We are actually looking at those (other possible arson cases) to see if they are related," Johnson said. "With arson, you usually look for motive, but there was no motive for burning the bridge. There was no insurance money to gain. It was just pure evil and mean."

Johnson said in cases of arson without motives, there will often be other arsons around the same time. The sheriff said the house fire shared some similarities to the bridge fire, leading investigators to question whether or not they are linked.

The intentional burning of the bridge would be classified as second degree arson, a felony that carries up to 10 years in the penitentiary if convicted.

"We are asking anyone with information on this crime to call the Lee County Sheriff's Office or Crime Stoppers," Johnson said.

Fire fighters from Baldwyn, Guntown and Pratts-Friendship responded to the fire on the historic Barnett Bridge, one of the few remaining wooden bridges in Lee County. The one lane, 500-foot bridge connects the Pratts and Friendship communities. The bridge is only rated for 6,000 pounds, so only passenger vehicles use it.

The bridge will remain closed indefinitely until county officials can get a structural engineer to inspect the damage and determine what can be done to repair it. Lee County Supervisor Phil Morgan, who represents the area, would like to see the bridge restored to at least its former condition.

Morgan hopes to have the bridge inspected within the next few weeks. He said the county has timbers on hand to repair the damage to the roadbed. But any damage to the stringers and support beams under the deck would require ordering replacements, causing further delays.

He estimated that the bridge will be closed for a month, but it could be two months, depending on the amount of repairs needed.

Anyone with information on this arson is urged to call the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 841-9041 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 773-TIPS.

william.moore@journalinc.com

Twitter:@WilliamMoore_DJ

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