Arsonist Strikes Southern Florida as Wildfires Rage
JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: It's a battle against the elements, and possibly an arsonist, in Florida, where firefighters are trying to tame a number of wildfires along the Gulf Coast. Reporter Brian Goff with WTVT joins us now live from the town of North Port, where the battle is being fought on several fronts. Good morning to you -- Brian.</s>BRIAN GOFF, WTVT REPORTER: Jason, North Port is on the southern end of Sarasota County. It butts up against Charlotte County. And right on this county line yesterday, an arsonist got to work and set seven different fires. It obviously couldn't have happened at a worst time.</s>GOFF (voice-over): Here in North Port, the fires were unexpected. While attention was on the big brushfire on the Carlton Reserve, an arsonist struck neighborhoods. It happened quickly.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm like "stop it, there's no fire coming over here" -- 25 minutes later, it's right outside my door.</s>GOFF: The Delfas (ph) lost everything. Others were luckier, and even as they were being ordered out, they stayed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They'd run us all off, but I've got spray the roof down. This is all I've got.</s>GOFF: In Charlotte County, nearby, the story was much the same: again, an arsonist -- again, a destroyed home.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would see all this and think it would take a couple hours -- maybe 15 minutes, or something. It was quick.</s>GOFF: The authorities are infuriated that someone is starting these fires while resources are tied up elsewhere.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knowing full well that every piece of the fire-fighting equipment, pretty much, in the south end of Florida is already being used somewhere else.</s>GOFF: So far, no one has been injured in any of these fires.</s>CARROLL: Brian, my mother lives down in Port Charlotte, and she's always talking about this arsonist. Any word on that investigation?</s>GOFF: Jason, so far, the authorities are, obviously, saying they're investigating it, they're looking for the arsonist. They, obviously, want to bring him or her into custody, but the fire investigators -- the people who normally lead up in an arson investigation -- are too busy putting out those fires, running from place to place, and on top of that, they've spent countless hours at the bigger fire. So they're just at the end of their wits, in terms of their resources. Presumably, they'll get to it in a more concentrated fashion if there are no more fires today.</s>CARROLL: And Brian, very quickly, what about that big fire that we learned about yesterday? Any word on how that is going?</s>GOFF: Well, yesterday 4,500 acres had burned over. Today, there was a small growth in it: It's at 5,000 acres now. They've got it almost contained. It's burning in more of a wilderness area, although, on the edges, some homes are threatened. But they're managing to keep that thing under control. They would have been able to do it a lot better and more quickly had they not had all these arson fires yesterday. But that fire is still going. It started because of a controlled burn that got out of control. That wasn't arson.</s>CARROLL: All right, Brian Goff, coming to us from our affiliate WTVT, thank you for joining us this morning.</s>GOFF: OK, Jason. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com