By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 32-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed a mobile home on the 300 block of Minkler Road in Winlock earlier this month which was attributed to a marital dispute.
His wife was not home at the time, but lost about $5,000 worth of her belongings in the blaze that occurred on July 13, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The husband, Jason B. Buchanan, allegedly started the fire between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. that day, according to the sheriff’s office. His wife had been socializing with a 28-year-old male friend who Buchanan allegedly threatened to kill, Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey said.
Buchanan was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree arson, felony harassment and for an unrelated case of third-degree malicious mischief, according to Kimsey.
Firefighters responded on July 13 to fully engulfed single-wide mobile home in a trailer park. A fire investigator and sheriff’s detective J.S. Humphrey looked into the cause.
The mobile home, valued at about $15,000, was a total loss, according to Kimsey.
Investigators reportedly found Buchanan made statements to various people about causing the fire, Kimsey stated in a press release.
Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza in a written statement praised the outstanding performance and team work by his detective and the investigator from the Chehalis Fire Department in “solving a crime like this that devastated a family, and could have impacted so many more if the fire had spread to other homes.”
Buchanan is tentatively scheduled to be brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter