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Show Arson Suspected In Campus Fires Nine fires were reported from upper campus to the Salt Lake City Fire Department between March 1 and April 1. The nine fires reflect a 600 per cent increase over the usual monthly average of two or three. Hy Schieving, University fire marshall, believes that arson may be involved. "The fires have gone beyond the point of coincidence," Marshall Schieving claims, "and especially since they almost all occur between 12 and 3 a.m." Dumpsters Repainted The blazes have been mainly in dumpsters, large trash receptacles outside of campus buildings. Because of the burned paint, the dumpsters dump-sters have had to be repainted costing $50 a can for a complete paint job and white lettering of "No Parking," and $25 for repainting a portion. The first incident was March 1 at 2 a.m. in a dumpster East of Ballif Hall. The same dumpster was lit up again March 21 at 11:15 p.m., and April 1 at 12:15 a.m. A dumpster by Austin Hall was burned March 1 at 3 a.m. Coke Machine Burns A Ballif coke machine between D-E wings was burned March 15 near midnight, and a trash barrel near Van Cott B wing March 21 at 12:01 a.m. Dumpsters at Bldg. 409, March 21 at 12:50 a.m. and Bldg. 418 March 22 at 1:15 a.m. were similarly scorched. At the Bldg 418 fire, a person was heard slamming car door. When the observor went to investigate, he discovered the fire in the barrel. "As long as the fires are kept to the dumpsters, we're relatively safe," Mr. Schieving said, "but we want to prevent the damage from spreading to the campus buildings. All the fires have been confined to the dumpsters. dump-sters. Precautionary Measures Precautionary measures have been set up by the campus fire department de-partment keeping the lids down on the dumpsters and regular and extra watching by patrolmen and nightwatchman. Both patrolmen and students have called in the alarms. Marshall Schieving commented that in his eight years as Fire Marshall, Mar-shall, the campus has had no previous problem with arson. Any individual who has information leading to the apprehension of individuals concerned with the fires should contact University Security Department. All information will be considered confidential. |