Temperanceville Family Estimates Loss At $25K After Latest Arson - WMDT 47 News - Delmarva's Choice

TEMPERANCEVILLE, Va. - The flames at the scene of the latest fire may be gone, but hours later smoke still rises off the ashes.

Only remnants of a storage barn remain from a Saturday night arson in Temperanceville. This time, it's affecting the Chesser family. Bobby Chesser, owner of Chesser Farm says that this could cost him at least $25,000.

Unlike many of the past arson cases, this was not an abandoned structure. Charred chicken fans emerged through the rubble as Chesser showed WMDT the thousands of dollars of equipment lost.

Beside the fans, Chesser says he lost "some machinery, some lumber, some storage stuff, some decoys, a little bit of everything."

"When you have a loss like this and you can't recover it, for no reason somebody burns it down, burns you out, it's rough," said Chesser.

Investigators believe the fire started around 7:00 p.m. Saturday. Chesser's son, Ryan Chesser says he was on his way home when he received a phone call.

"We were about a mile away," said the son. "The whole sky was lit up. I was scared that it was worse than what it was."

The younger Chesser recalls the police investigation and says "they brought a bloodhound last night to look for some foot prints and tire tracks, but they may not have come into the driveway."

Virginia State Police said last week they do have strong leads and Bobby and Ryan hold out hope an arrest will be made soon.

"I hope this is the last one," said Chesser.

Ryan Chesser says that the arsonist is getting careless and "he's going to make a mistake one of these days."

There is a $5,000 reward for information which could lead to an arrest. If you have a tip, call Virginia State Police at (757) 424-6820.