Deputies investigating deliberate fire in Waldport city hall parking lot

WALDPORT – The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is investigating who might have set two wooden pallets on fire in the Waldport city hall parking lot overnight Wednesday.

Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue firefighters were dispatched from their station across the street at 2:58 a.m. Thursday and quickly extinguished the fire. There were no cars in the parking lot and the fire was in an area on the west side of the lot away from city hall.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Adrian Reagan said they are investigating and asked any witnesses with leads or who saw something to report it. Reagan confirmed there are “some suspects” but did not say whether they had been contacted.

City manager Dann Cutter found out about the fire Thursday morning and believes the suspect could be a man well-known to the city and deputies who apparently dragged the pallets from the community garden. “We had an individual who camped out in front of the library, camped out in front of city hall, came in (Wednesday), accused us of taking all of his possessions and whatnot and then we see him with some of his possessions afterwards,” Cutter said. “But accused us of everything in the world.”

He then threatened to cause a riot at city hall, Cutter said.

Cutter said he reported the threat to deputies later Wednesday and said he was worried about the man doing something. He was so concerned that he got up in the middle of the night and checked city hall’s Ring cameras. He saw firefighters rolling hoses in the parking lot, thought it was odd but the fire took place beyond the camera’s view. “I felt like something bad was going to happen and sure enough.”

Cutter suspects the same man might be responsible for the anarchy symbol sprayed in red paint overnight on the back of Ray’s Market.

   — Garret Jaros/Lincoln Chronicle