Police, Firefighters in Arkansas Town Targeted by Arsonist

Someone is targeting Cotton Plant, AR, police and firefighters, setting fires to their homes and vandalizing their vehicles since February, according to officials in the Woodruff County town.

The latest suspicious fire occurred Sunday and destroyed the Vine Street home that Fire Chief Jason Johnston recently bought for his mother after his father passed away. Debbie Johnston had yet to move into the home, but boxes of old photographs, memorabilia and papers were destroyed, the fire chief said.

On May 10, someone used gasoline to set a fire inside the Cotton Plant Police Department, Mayor Willard Ryland said. The building didn't burn, but the fire destroyed a computer on a metal desk and police investigation reports kept in a box.

"They were trying to destroy evidence," Ryland told Arkansas Online . "We had an investigation going on a string of major burglaries."

Cotton Plant Police Chief Ritchie Haggans has asked the Arkansas State Police to help investigate. Haggans was not available for comment Tuesday.