Alleged DWI arsonist uses balled-up newspapers to start nearly 20 fires on and near Highways J/201

Editor's note: The online version of this story was edited slightly from the article that ran in the Oct. 19, 2022, edition of the Ozark County Times, to include four fires that were reported on County Road 503 that are thought to be a part of the alleged arson spree. 

A man accused of intentionally setting a number of grass fires in Ozark and Baxter Counties is being held on a $25,000 bond, after witnesses observed him reportedly setting fires along the highway last week by throwing burning newspaper out his vehicle window as he traveled down Arkansas Highway 201 and Missouri Highway J. 

It was 2:06 p.m. last Friday, Oct. 14, when the Ozark County dispatch office received its first call reporting a roadside fire along J Highway. The caller said that a fire had started along the road not far from the Lick Creek VFD fire house, as well as two more fires on J Highway about a mile from Highway 160 near Miller’s One Stop. 

A minute after the initial call was made, the dispatch office received a second call from a resident who said that they actually saw a man lighting the fires along J Highway by balling up newspaper, setting it on fire and throwing it out the window. 

Lick Creek and Tecumseh VFDs were dispatched to the fires, as well as the Ozark County Ambulance. 

About two hours later, four other fires were reported on County Road 503, between County Road 504 and T Highway, known locally as Cheeseplant Road. Lick Creek, Gainesville, Timber Knob and Pontiac-Price Place VFDs responded with four brush trucks and a tanker. Firefighters there were on scene until 9 p.m. 

The local responders didn’t know at the time that the fire was one of a string of alleged arsons that began the evening before when the Clarkridge (Arkansas) VFD and Baxter County Sheriff’s Office responded to a fire on Arkansas Highway 201, which turns into J Highway at the Missouri state line. 

“…The fire department extinguished this fire, but a short time later it was reported that additional fires were being set in the same area… A witness reported that he saw a maroon pickup truck… that was stopped along the roadside. Once he passed the parked truck, he saw a fire in the ditch line that was spreading. The witness also provided a physical description of the man in the parked truck,” a news release from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office explained. 

At 2:17 p.m. Friday, when the dispatch office here received the second report of the fire, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office also received a call from a driver who said they also saw the man lighting the fires. The witness said a man was lighting wads of newspaper and throwing them out of the vehicle’s window. The witness followed the man from Arkansas into Missouri, down the length of J Highway to Miller’s One Stop, which sits at the intersection of J and Highway 160. At the convenience store, the witness observed the man purchase alcohol and an Ozark County Times newspaper before leaving the store, the BCSO release says. 

The witness relayed the man’s license plate to the Baxter County dispatcher, and the BCSO ran the plate number through their system. It came back as registered to 43-year-old Clarkridge, Arkansas, resident Trenton Lee Strain.

“Deputies converged on the area and began searching for the suspect vehicle. At approximately 3:48 p.m., deputies saw the suspect vehicle heading south on… Highway 201 and subsequently conducted a traffic stop,” the release says. “Trenton Strain was driving the vehicle. During the investigation, Strain was determined to be intoxicated and was arrested for DWI. Inside the vehicle were a lighter and wadded up sheets of paper.”

After Strain’s arrest, BCSO made contact with the witnesses who reported seeing the man in the act of arson. They confirmed that Trenton and the vehicle he was driving matched what they saw. Strain was subsequently arrested for the arsons as well. 

The Clarkridge VFD responded to six or seven brush and grass fires on Oct. 13 and an additional seven fires on Oct. 14 that are thought to have been started by Strain. One unoccupied structure in Baxter County sustained extensive damage as a result of the fires. Paired with the seven Ozark County fires, Strain is thought to have started 21 or 22 fires during the two-day alleged arson spree. 

Strain was transported to the Baxter County Jail, where he remained in custody as of press time Tuesday. He is charged in Baxter County with the violation of careless driving, misdemeanors of driving while intoxicated and refusing an intoxication test, 14 felony counts of reckless burning and one felony count of arson. 

It is anticipated that Strain will also face charges in Ozark County for the fires that were set here.