Perfect! I now have all the information I need to write the article. I have detailed quotes from Dan Carlson’s interview with KIRO 7, details from multiple outlets (Fox 13 Seattle, KIRO 7, KOMO News, Newstalk 870), and a complete picture of the incident. Let me write the article now.
A Kitsap County, Washington man is accused of torching a house from his golf cart, all while his dog watched from the passenger seat, with surveillance video from Aug. 4 showing the suspect rolling up to the garage of a house in unincorporated Port Orchard, driving a golf cart with his dog sitting beside him, then pulling out a torch and spray canister and torching the garage frame.
The homeowner told KIRO 7 that he had just gotten up ten minutes earlier, before the fire really got going Tuesday morning, and he got out safely.
The fire caused an estimated $150,000–$175,000 in damage to the house, and destroyed a $25,000 car.
Dan Carlson lives across the street and says he and his wife were in the hot tub when they spotted the golf cart and then flames.
“I went up to the door, rang the doorbell a couple times, beat on the door,” said Carlson.
Carlson says his wife called 911 and he confronted the guy with the blow torch.
“I asked him ‘what are you doing?’ He goes ‘I’m with the fire department.’ I looked at him, said ‘no’ – what the hell? What’s going on? That’s when he took after me with the golf cart, tried to run me down,” said Carlson.
“I got the golf cart into the ditch. He then came at me with the torch, told me ‘back off, get away.'” He says the man then pointed the blow torch at him, close enough to burn his shirt.
Carlson says he went back home to get his car. By then, he says the man got the golf cart out of the ditch and was going back down the road.
Carlson was able to corner him in a driveway. “Then we had a standoff. He was looking at me, and I was looking at him – I’m waiting for help to arrive,” he said.
Moments later, a state trooper arrived and detained the 47-year-old suspect, who told investigators he was burning items on his own property – allegedly under the influence of drugs and alcohol – just before he was spotted near the house fire.
The encounter with the neighbor marked the dramatic climax of what had begun as an early morning inferno in Port Orchard.
In the viral moment that became a centerpiece of local news coverage,
the suspect pulled out a torch and spray canister and torched the garage frame, with flames seen shooting up and into the garage, and eventually spread to the entire house.
The homeowner was still inside the house.
Within minutes, the door was engulfed in flames in minutes.
A witness saw the whole thing, and was approached by the 47-year-old suspect, who allegedly claimed he was with the fire department, before waving his torch at him and trying to run him over with his golf cart.
The suspect was booked for arson, assault, malicious mischief and burglary.
The homeowner was not injured in the arson, and told police they have no idea who the suspect is or why their house was targeted.
Washington State troopers quickly tracked the suspect down and took him into custody.