Calls for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office didn’t slow down on Valentine’s Day.
Among the incidents, officers reported an arson fire at a house in Woodland; and they responded to a late-night noise complaint on the Woodward sports facility.
On the morning of Friday, the 14th, at about 7:45, a deputy was the first on scene at a residential structure fire in Woodland.
A man was found at the scene, whose facial hair and eyebrows were singed. The right side of his coat was also melted. The man, identified as 48-year-old Thomas Fox Shea from Syracuse, Utah, said he was a photographer. He said he had seen smoke coming from the building and gone inside.
Shea was taken to a hospital for treatment. He came back to the house. After fire personnel discovered signs of arson, Shea admitted to officers that he started the fire in order to photograph it, according to charging documents.
Shea said he brought in a five-gallon can of gasoline. He said he started two fires and put them out, but a third got out of control. He’s been charged with Aggravated Arson and is set to make his first court appearance on February 24th.
Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright said the house has been vacant for some time. He has been told it’s on the Historic Registry.
Later on Friday night, at about 10:45 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office got a complaint from a resident on Saddleback Road in Jeremy that they were disturbed by a humming noise, coming from a sno-cat at Woodward, on the other side of I-80.
The deputy contacted the operator, who was grooming a half-pipe at Woodward until about 2 a.m. that night. Lt. Wright said the sheriff’s office doesn’t carry noise meters. But the officer returned to the Saddleback address at 1:30, and reported there was a significant decrease in the noise.
Lt. Wright said that ordinarily, the county noise ordinance gives some leniency for snow operations, and personnel at Woodward thought they were covered.
However, Wright said they checked with the county attorney’s office the next day, and heard that the grooming operation wasn’t exempted.
Lt. Wright said they heard from Woodward’s General Manger that the sno-cat was working late due to an unexpected circumstance.
“On the 15th was the opening day of that training feature, and they had equipment issues in the weeks prior, causing unusual delays. So it sounds like that may have been a one-time ordeal as far as getting that half-pipe groomed to the level of them being able to open the next day.”
Lt. Wright said the Woodward Manager was cooperative and said they will be careful about the decibels in the future.
