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A serial arsonist, who may have wanted to return to prison, turned himself in for allegedly starting a fire early Wednesday in Salt Lake City's Memory Grove.
Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Mark Bednarik said Wilbert Edward Fike Jr., 53, was arrested on suspicion of reckless burning, a class A misdemeanor.
He said Wednesday's fire was the second Fike is believed to have set since Tuesday. Tuesday's blaze burned a 10-foot-square area in the same part of town.
After Tuesday's blaze, Fike contacted the fire department and claimed he had started that fire, Bednarik said. Police went to his location and arrested him. He was cited and released.
Wednesday's fire was reported about 5 a.m. in the brush near City Creek and Canyon Road. Fire crews had doused it by 5:30 a.m.
"The potential for loss of life by setting fires like that is very high," Bednarik said. "He is taking a big risk by doing that. He's really jeopardizing the community by lighting a fire like that."
About 11 a.m. Wednesday, officials said Fike walked into the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building and turned himself in in connection with that blaze.
"We're glad that he did do that," Bednarik said. "It gets him off the street."
Fike has served multiple stints behind bars.
In October, Fike was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to a class A misdemeanor, court records show. Bednarik said Fike was released in June.
According to charges filed in that case, Fike started a bush fire that burned for several hours July 23, 2010, in the 1000 block of North West Bonneville Drive, in City Creek Canyon. Three days later, Fike walked into the fire department and confessed to starting the fire, the charges show. He told fire investigators he had set the blaze in hopes of returning to prison, the charges show.
In September 2006, Fike admitted to starting three fires the same day, two in the area of North East Capitol Boulevard and one near 40 North and 200 East. He then approached police to confess, charging documents show. He told investigators he wanted to do enough damage that he'd be sent back to prison, records show. Court records show Fike pleaded guilty to one count of arson, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Bednarik said he hadn't spoken with fire investigators but said given Fike's previous confessions, it's possible he started this week's fires in hopes of returning to jail.
In 1988, court records show Fike was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of a child charges.