Back at the end of July, there was a massive fire at H.C. Summers, a store that provides animal feed and farm equipment. It's about 2 or 3 minutes up from us, so I heard all the sirens that night, but had no idea what was going on.



It's an old store (been there since 1902), with a lot of wood, hay and other flammable things, so a lot of people thought it was just a tragic accident. However, after hearing that all the fire extinguishers in the building and trucks were stolen a week previously, suspicions of arson arose.

Then about a week later, the house directly across the street from summers went up in flames while the family was sleeping. Fortunately, the family got out but their dog didn't make it. A few days before that, a barn in that same block caught on fire but was put out by someone walking by.

I wasn't too nervous, but it was still in the back of my mind that maybe whoever was doing it would start making his or her way to our development. We have a beautiful historic barn that belongs to the farm right behind us, and I was worried it would be next.

Thankfully, however, the arsonist was caught and arrested yesterday. And he lived RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the family whose house burned. He even helped them during the fire. And he was the one who called in the Summers fire since he lives right across the street. Unbelievable.

If anybody's interested in the full story, here are a few links:

Channel 9 News

Frederick News Post

And a link to a video:

Channel 7 Video