Redmond PD: Transient sets sleeping bag ablaze, starts brush fire

A Redmond-area transient intentionally lit a sleeping bag on fire at a camp on a vacant lot Sunday afternoon, prompting a brush fire that spread to an auto yard’s fence and led to his arrest at a nearby fast-food restaurant, police said.

The fire was reported by several callers shortly before 3 p.m. near Brad’s Auto and Truck Parts, on 13th Street near South Highway 97, and its location east of the railroad tracks proved challenging to access, police Sgt. Ryan Fraker said.

Lt. Curtis Chambers said officers arrived to find the small fire burning shrubs and small trees and moving toward the fence line of the auto parts business. He said the area is primarily vacant and privately owned property east of the BNSF tracks and Southwest Airport Way.

Fraker said the fire broke out on vacant property owned by Nosler, the Bend-based ammunition maker. He said the fire put up large black smoke plumes when it burned a few juniper trees during the first 10 minutes or so.

“We have been actively trying to (cite for) trespass and arrest any trespassers” on the vacant property, Fraker said. “Nosler has been doing a great job, brought on a lot of equipment to clean up the messes transients have left.”

Witnesses told officers they saw a man running away from the fire, toward a nearby McDonald’s on South Highway 97. Officers found the man, identified as Gerald Tigue, 47 at the restaurant and detained him while investigating the fire.

Chambers said an investigation found a camp had been established on the private property and that Tigue intentionally lit a sleeping bag on fire, for unknown reasons. He said it’s not clear if Tigue was in the sleeping bag at the time, and it appears no other people were involved.

Tigue sustained minor burn injuries from the fire and was taken by police to St. Charles Redmond. He was arrested for several crimes, including second-degree arson, reckless burning, second-degree criminal mischief and second-degree criminal trespass. He was released to the hospital’s custody.

Redmond Fire and Rescue crews called to the scene found a slow-moving brush fire in juniper trees, sagebrush and an abandoned camp that had spread to the security fence around the auto parts store, Battalion Chief Dick Knorr said.

They were able to contain the fire to about an eighth of an acre, primarily outside the fence, then conducted mop-up work and checked for any extension, Knorr said.

In a news release, Chambers said, “The Redmond Police Department, city of Redmond and numerous private property owners remain concerned about the ongoing criminal incidents related to homelessness in Redmond.”

“The police department is hopeful a long-term solution to this persistent societal problem can one day be solved,” the lieutenant wrote.

“Until that day, the Redmond Police Department will work with property owners and other support organizations to deter unlawful camping, offensive littering, and other crimes by encouraging the use of community resources, and by making arrests for criminal behavior when appropriate.”