WTF? Serial Arsonist In Northern California! Burning Down Homes While People Sleep...

Tell me what you think GLP this is happening near where I have family....

Could this be arson or could it be SMART METERS.....

Three homes burned on ONE BLOCK.....

A elderly woman was just burned alive in her sleep....

People are scared and want to move....

WTF???

Homicide victim from Cottonwood fire ID'ed, sheriff says

n elderly Cottonwood woman died in an early Sunday fire at her Willow Street home that deputies are now calling a homicide.

Shasta County sheriff's deputies said the Cottonwood area has been plagued by "a series of suspicious fires over the last several months" in the downtown area, so the woman's death is now being investigated as a homicide "based upon the totality of the circumstances."

In fact, less than an hour after the fire that killed 86-year-old Barcie Arlene Miller early Sunday morning, firefighters were able to quickly knock down another fire at a shed that broke out near her home. That fire happened on the 3400 block of Hickory Street, deputies said.

Lt. Gene Randall with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office said Miller's autopsy happened Wednesday, though her cause of death wasn't immediately available.

Deputies are now asking Cottonwood residents to use exterior lighting at night, if possible, and surveillance cameras. Anyone who already has surveillance footage from the area is asked to call the sheriff's department's major crimes division at 245-6135.

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"It's just so sad," 55-year-old Julie Lummis said Tuesday as she surveyed the devastating damage to her late neighbor's home.

Lummis, who lived across the street from the fire-ravaged residence, said she did not know the woman well.
This Willow Street home in Cottonwood is only a shell after it was destroyed by a recent fire.Buy Photo

This Willow Street home in Cottonwood is only a shell after it was destroyed by a recent fire. (Photo: Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight)

But, she said, the woman lived alone, kept to herself and went everywhere with an oxygen tank.

Although she was not close to the woman, Lummis said she often kept her eye out for her due to her age and would alert another neighbor who did know the woman well if she thought something was wrong.
A Willow Street home sits in ruins following a fire that destroyed it.Buy Photo

A Willow Street home sits in ruins following a fire that destroyed it. (Photo: Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight)

That other neighbor declined to be interviewed by the Record Searchlight.

While Lummis said she did not know whether Sunday's deadly fire might be linked to the other fires in Cottonwood over the past three months, they have all had their impact on her and others.

"I want to move," she said.

At least three homes have been destroyed on Willow Street in the past three months and fire officials have reportedly said there have been nine suspicious fires over the past three months.
What was once a Willow Street home in Cottonwood is now only rubble.Buy Photo

What was once a Willow Street home in Cottonwood is now only rubble. (Photo: Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight)

Lummis, who admitted she was still shaken by the deadly blaze, said she was asleep Sunday when she was awakened by dense smoke and the sound of what may have been fire engines at the scene.

She said she looked out her window to her neighbor's home and huge oak tree in the front yard engulfed in flames.

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"The whole tree and everything was on fire," she said, adding sparks were flying from a utility pole that also caught on fire. "It (the fire) was so hot."

Officials with the Cottonwood Fire Protection District referred all questions about the fire and the recent string of suspicious fires to the major crimes unit of the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said they're not releasing certain details about the suspected arson fires to protect the investigation, including the origin and causes of them.
A rash of suspicious fires in Cottonwood has left some residents worrying about their safety in this historic community.Buy Photo

A rash of suspicious fires in Cottonwood has left some residents worrying about their safety in this historic community. (Photo: Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight)

The fires have left many living here uneasy and speculating about whether a serial arsonist is on the loose.

"I'm completely surprised that something like this is happening here," said 34-year-old Nicole Montague, a life-long Cottonwood resident. "It's really scary."

Montague, who said a friend of her parents was almost killed in one of the fires, does not know if they are the work of an arsonist.

But she says there's a lot of speculation going around town about how the fires are starting and who might be starting them.

"It's kind of creepy," she said.

Anyone with information on any of the fires in the area is asked to call major crimes at 245-6135 or email the unit at [email protected]. Deputies also ask people to call 911 or dispatch at 245-6540 if they see suspicious activity such as prowlers or loitering in the area.

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