By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

A small pickup was set on fire in a heavily-wooded area near 198th Avenue East, sometime during the nighttime hours of July 7.

The fire was on the Cascadia Development Corporation property.

Darlene Finnigan was riding her horse on the Rocking Horse trail at 6 a.m. when she notice smoke and flames in the woods.

Finnigan rode her horse to Jim Rutkowski's home and reported the fire.

Firefighters from East Pierce Fire and Rescue and the Department of Natural Resources responded and put out the fire.

Marikay Cumpston, a security manager for Cascadia Development Corporation, stated the firefighters worked several hours extinguishing the fire and watched it for three days to assure it didn't flare up.

"It happened adjacent to where I live," Cumpston said. "Everyone around here is on alert for fire. There has been a rash of stolen vehicles dumped here."

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com