Rifle police said arson is suspected in a string of four fires that swept through the town’s business district early Monday, igniting explosions at a gas station and destroying a bowling alley.
A task force that includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and local law-enforcement agencies has been created to investigate the blazes, Rifle police said.
“I don’t think they had any particular method to their madness,” said Larry McCown, who sold the Rifle Fireside Lanes three months ago. “Who could have such a grudge against a bowling alley?”
No one was injured in any of the fires, but power went out in most of the city, about 60 miles northeast of Grand Junction.
Electricity was restored at 7 a.m. Monday by Xcel Energy, police said.
The first fire was in the north end of town, with subsequent blazes farther south, McCown said.
The fires appeared random because none of the businesses have common owners, he said.
Firefighters were called to Rifle Fireside Lanes at 3:07 a.m. Monday when half the building was engulfed in flames, according to police. The building was under renovation by the new owner, Jack Bowles, McCown said. Bowles had been there until 11 Sunday night, McCown said.
About 46 minutes after the bowling-alley fire was reported, another call came in at an apartment-building construction site at Meadow Circle and Colorado 13.
A police officer responding to the fire was able to put it out with a fire extinguisher, Rifle City Manager John Hier said.
Then, 44 minutes after the construction fire started, an explosion was reported at an Amoco gas station at 100 Railroad Ave. The building was destroyed, Hier said.
Investigators found evidence that someone started a fourth fire at Mi Hacienda, a bar and dance hall that has been vacant, but the fire went out on its own, Hier said.
Firefighters from nine surrounding city and district fire departments helped extinguish the blazes, officials said.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
