The football stadium press box and a campus police car were set on fire Sunday at Fort Lewis College, according to an email sent to students.
On Sunday morning, the press box at the Ray Dennison Memorial Field was allegedly set on fire, according to the email from FLC President Tom Stritikus.
“Due to the fast action of our police officers, the fire was spotted and the Durango Fire Department was able to respond and extinguish the fire,” Stritikus said in the email.
Durango Fire Protection District Chief Randy Black said they received the call about 5:30 a.m.
Black said that fire crews noticed that the press box had been vandalized.
“There had been some vandalism to the building, there were windows broken out, it was on fire, there were flames coming out of the announcer booth,” said Black.
Fort Lewis College Police Chief Brett Deming was not immediately available for comment Monday morning.
Stritikus said later in the email that there was extensive damage to the press box.
The second fire started about 18 hours later.
About 11:30 p.m. Sunday, a person walked by and allegedly set one of the Fort Lewis College Police Department patrol vehicles on fire, causing an an explosion of one vehicle, the email said. In addition, another patrol vehicle also caught fire and was damaged during the incident.
Black said the fire appeared to start from the outside the vehicle, which would make it likely that the fire was started by a person.
Accidental car fires typically are started by wiring or leaking gas from within the vehicle.
“When the outside of the vehicle is on fire, there's nothing that causes the outside of a vehicle to catch fire except somebody purposefully trying to catch it on fire,” Black said.
An image of the alleged individual was captured on one of the FLC police surveillance cameras.
The photo of the alleged perpetrator has been shared on the Fort Lewis College Police Facebook page. Both areas have been declared crime scenes, and investigations are underway, the email said. The email did not specify whether college administrators believe the incidents are related.
The Fort Lewis College Police Department is heading the investigation with help from Durango Police Department, Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Durango Fire Protection District.
If anyone has more information about these incidents, contact campus police at (970)385-2900.
This story will be updated when more information becomes available.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
