Following over six weeks of intensive investigation of the Fairview High School fire in Cullman County, a sixteen year old male juvenile has been charged with setting the fire.
The fire occurred in the early morning hours of June 10th and resulted in several million dollars damage to the school. Efforts of the Fairview Fire Department and other departments who responded to the mutual aid call prevented the fire from spreading to other areas of the campus and provided investigators with considerable physical evidence from which to work.
On June 14th the cause of the fire was confirmed to be a case of arson. Following that numerous interviews were conducted and leads pursued. On July 27th, the juvenile was taken into custody and was charged with two counts of burglary third degree and one count of arson second degree.
In addition to the Cullman County Sheriff's Department, the lead investigative agency, the Cullman County District Attorney's Office, the State Fire Marshals Office, ATF, ABI and other city and county law enforcement agencies assisted in the investigation.
At the present time the juvenile is being held in a state juvenile facility. District Attorney Len Brooks has announced plans to file papers to have the juvenile certified as an adult on these charges.