FIRE OFFICIALS: Series of fires in Clarksville were arson

CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- Investigators think an arsonist targeted several buildings in a Clarksville neighborhood in the middle of the night.

The first call was received about a structure fire on Blackiston Mill Road around 4:30 a.m., and that call was quickly followed by two more calls to report fires on Cliftwood, which is not far from the first fire scene. Fire officials say it is clear the fires were not accidents.

It was an early morning wakeup call William Keller won't soon forget -- the sound of his daughter's screams at 4 a.m.

"I looked out toward the window and I saw where the fire was," said William Keller. "She [my daughter] called 911 but the fire department was down the street at that fire down there, and it took them awhile to get up here."

The garage next door was transformed into a ball of flames and those flames were quickly approaching his house.

As he ran out the door to find a garden hose, he noticed that the fire department was already on his normally quiet street.

From Blackiston Mill Road to Cliftwood Avenue, less than a half mile away, fire crews were called to extinguish two burning garages and a storage shed.

Clarksville's Fire Chief says all of them appear to have been set ablaze intentionally: "Some of the structures that were involved didn't have any electric or anything like that, that was running through those structures, that would get those fires going." Chief Upton said. "That would leave us to believe that someone did probably start these fires."

Police and fire crews shut power off to several homes for a couple of hours as a precaution blocked the 1600 block of Blackiston Mill Road near Alta Drive for several hours. It has now reopened.

Clarksville Police detectives are also involved in the investigation into finding out who set the fires. They've been talking to neighbors all day, but so far no suspects have been named.