Arrests expected soon in Starkville Walmart arson

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The fire that started behind the Starkville Walmart on Saturday is being ruled as arson.

The case is currently under investigation by the Starkville Police Department.

Starkville Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough says there are people of interest and arrests are expected soon.

The chief says Walmart surveillance video shows three juveniles starting the fire around 5 and shows how the flames evolved over a few minutes.

Yarbrough believes the minors didn’t start the fire to hurt anyone.

“I think they knew what they were doing, but I don’t think they knew it was going to get out of hand like that. Fire you cannot control,” Starkville Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough continued, “People think you can, but it cannot be controlled, we can, but once it got out of hand, and if you see the video, you’ll see it very quickly got out of hand.”

The fire chief says if the juveniles are arrested, punishments will be left up to the juvenile court.