By Ben Conley, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN — When was the first celebratory couch set alight in the city of Morgantown?
Likely every person who claims knowledge of that answer would tell you a different story about who did what, where and when.
What isn’t up for debate, however, is the intrepid, arsonous soul who first put flame to cushion set a collective blaze that’s burned through decades, and likely forever altered the city’s image.
To provide some perspective on how overwhelming the issue of nuisance street fires has been in Morgantown, the city ranked second nationally to Columbus, Ohio, between 2008 and 2012 according to U.S. fire statistics. Los Angeles came in third.
That’s actually down a spot from where the city ranked between 1997 and 2003. Data provided by the Morgantown Fire Department in 2004 showed the city led the nation with 1,129 intentional street fires in the six-year stretch. That averages out to roughly one intentionally set, nuisance fire every other day.
