Arson suspected in destruction of slides, ramps and climbing wall at Hailmann Elementary School.
Timothy O’Connor
Michigan City (Ind.) News-Dispatch
July 8, 2008

LA PORTE - A pile of new playground equipment melted to a school's parking lot pavement on Saturday afternoon after it caught fire due to as of yet unknown reasons. Arson is suspected.

The equipment, which included slides, a climbing wall and ramps, was sitting in the parking lot of Hailmann Elementary when neighbors noticed the fire around 3:45 p.m.

"Once it started burning it was quite a fire," said Robert Worthington, who reported the fire to police. "I did not see a soul anywhere in the vicinity."

Still, police suspect the fire was intentional.

Detective Clyde Crass said there was no firework activity in the area at the time and it was unlikely one of the celebratory explosives could have started the blaze. He added that the fire department found no traces of fireworks in the palettes of charred plastic equipment. [More]

Learn how to keep your new play equipment safe before the build.