ST. MAURICE, LA. (KNOE 8 News) - After seeing more and more of her hometown of St. Maurice burn down, Shirley Roujeau called local authorities.
"It's fear but it's also anger," she said. "It's anxiety. It's all of those feelings that people have when you see something that has been built up over generations just being destroyed."
That call led to the Winn Parish Fire and Sheriff's Departments combining with state police, the state fire marshal and the Department of Agriculture and Forestry to investigate.
There were 80 fires around St. Maurice in the last three years but even that's not the worst of it.
"Over the last year, the current year we're in, we've seen 14 structure fires occur in the St. Maurice area," Louisiana Fire Marshal, Butch Browning, said.
The homes were abandoned, so no deaths or injuries have been reported yet.
Officers are calling this a case of serial arson.
Some burned down homes in the area are less than 50 feet away from each other.
Officers still comb through them with dogs smelling for gas or kerosene, hunting the arsonists down.
"We have several leads. Young, male. We have not been able to gather enough evidence to make an arrest," Winn Parish Sheriff, Cranford Jordan, said.
Officers said they need to catch the arsonists before these fires are set on occupied homes.
Roujeau is calling on her own town to turn the fire-starters in.
"Someone does know, definitely, who's doing it," she said. "Who knows who will be next? Whose house will be next? Whose child will be next?"
A $5,000 cash reward is being offered for tips leading to arrests.
You can leave those tips anonymously at 1-866-946-1097.
