Suspect arrested in Kingsland arson

A 17-year-old man is charged with second-degree arson in connection with an Aug. 25 brush fire in Kingsland.

Dane Albert Burgess was arrested the Llano County Sheriff's office on Tuesday and his bail set at $250,000.

The office said the arrest was the result of an investigation into at least 20 suspicious fires in the area since June 25.

"Investigators followed up on leads, gathered physical evidence, and conducted surveillance that led them to Burgess as a suspect," the office said in a news release.

Burgess is charged in only the Aug. 25 fire, but investigators are looking into whether additional charges might be warranted, the sheriff's office said.

The series of fires began in late afternoon on June 25, as firefighters were called out to the scene of a half-finished Seton Clinic in Kingsland. The destruction delayed the opening of a much-needed health facility in a town of 5,400 residents.

The sheriff's department said on the day the fire was started on the clinics' construction site, two more brush fires were called in. Three weeks later there were four fires reported in one day.

On that same day, a vacant home on Farm to Market 1431 also caught fire. And down the street a storage building was burned.

Several other fires, including more structures, brush fires and wood piles, have all occurred within a half-mile radius. Cops say they've got some good leads but they need just a little more information to get closer to an arrest.

Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call Hill Country Area Crime Stoppers at 1-866-756-TIPS. There is a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the offenders.