Sheriff’s deputies have detained a man who started a fire in a boat in Twentynine Palms early this morning, destroying the boat, a garage, and damaging a home. Twentynine Palms Fire Chief Jim Thompson said the fire was reported at 3:48 a.m. Tuesday morning in the 74900 block of Alta Loma, east of Utah Trail. Arriving firefighters from Twentynine Palms, with mutual aid from the Combat Center Fire Department, arrived to find the boat and a semi-detached garage fully involved in flames. The occupants, a woman and her father, had escaped the fire and were unharmed. Fast action by firefighters saved the home, but the garage and boat were a total loss. Thompson said the fire was an arson; the boyfriend of the resident had entered into an argument with her, then went outside before setting the boat on fire and driving away from the property. He was later located and detained in Yucca Valley by Sheriff’s deputies pending the investigation. The Sheriff’s Arson and Bomb Unit have been brought in to do the formal investigation, Thompson estimated the loss at $25,000. During the attack on the fire, one Combat Center firefighter received a minor injury when he was bitten by a small dog he was trying to rescue from under a couch.
