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Arson experts to discuss string of blazes in county

Arson experts to discuss string of blazes in county image
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April
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1997
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Arson experts to discuss string of blazes in county

■ Authorities unsure if suspect in custody may be linked to fires.

By JOHN BARTON

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Federal, state and local arson experts planned a meeting today with prosecutors to determine if 50-year-old Norah M. Callan can be charged as a serial arsonist who may have set as many 50 fires in Washtenaw County.

Callan was arrested by Ann Arbor Police early last Friday in the 1200 block of Island Drive after a fire was set inside a parked car.

The blaze was extinguished before causing major damage, but investigators say it was similar to numerous other suspicious car, structure and trash fires that have been under investigation by area police and fire agencies for the past five years.

Callan, a divorced mother of one daughter who lives on Ann Arbor’s west side, is being held in the Washtenaw County Jail under $500,000 bail on a two-count felony warrant charging her with breaking into the car and setting it ablaze.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie confirmed that Callan is a suspect in a series of deliberately set fires in Ann Arbor and the western half of the county, including one that nearly trapped a Scio Township couple last month in the flames of their mobile home.

“I am not saying that we have any immediate plans for bringing additional charges at this point,” Mackie said. “But it is clear that we have had a large number bf fires, and we are going to be looking at all of them to see if there is anything that connects them to a single suspect.”

Meeting with Mackie to compare notes on evidence gathered from the fire scenes will be investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Michigan State Police, the Ann Arbor police and fire departments, the University of Michigan Department of Public Safety and the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Department.

Ann Arbor arson investigators have been attempting to link at least 16 suspicious fires to a single arsonist in a series of blazes - concentrated mainly on the city’s west side - that have been under investigation since 1991.

Most, according to Fire Marshal Scott Rayburn and Police Detective Tom Kolpacki, have been nuisance blazes that caused minor damage to apartment buildings and motor vehicles.

Others were more serious and posed greater danger, including a Nov. 17, 1996, blaze in the 2500 block of Hampshire Avenue. Investigators believe that fire was set in a parked car, but flames spread to two residences. One of the houses was unoccupied, a woman escaped from the other unharmed.

On March 16, five cars were set ablaze at two separate locations on the city’s west side. Damage ranged from $500-$l,500.

In the western part of the county, sheriffs detectives have been investigating a series of 20 fires in Scio Township since last Jan. 4. Ten of those fires involved parked cars, and six of the damaged vehicles were set ablaze at the Scio Farms Estates mobile home park.

On March 14, flames from a fire that was set in a Jeep spread to an adjacent mobile home, nearly trapping two people inside. A family dog was credited with waking the couple in time to escape, but a cat perished in the early morning fire, and the mobile home was a total loss.

In addition to the Scio Township fires, Sheriffs arson investigators said there have been at least seven other fires in Dexter, Lima, Webster and Sylvan Townships. Three of those blazes were set in parked cars.

“At this stage we can’t be sure exactly what we are dealing with,” said Sheriffs Lt. R.J. Smith. “We are a long way from being able to say that one person set all or some of these fires.

“What we have is someone in custody accused of setting a fire under circumstances that seem similar to a number of cases we have been investigating. We have to look at that person as a potential suspect.”