Construction worker arrested for Pullman apartment arson
PULLMAN – Police on Monday arrested a suspect alleged to have intentionally set fire to the Grove Apartments in Pullman.
Detectives arrested Bryan Lee Kitchen, 31, of Pullman, in connection with the Grove Apartment fire July 14.
Kitchen worked for a plumbing sub-contractor at the construction site, but no motive was provided for the arson.
Kitchen had been a person of interest since the morning of the fire when his unoccupied vehicle was seen near the fire scene by a Pullman police officer around the time the fire was believed to have been started, police said.
The fire burned four of eight apartment buildings under construction near campus. Hundreds of students had already made arrangements to rent them for the upcoming school year, and are now scrambling to find new housing.
Kitchen was booked on a first-degree charge of arson and was to be transported to the Whitman County Jail. After conferring with the Whitman County prosecutor, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Spokane will be reviewing the case for possible federal prosecution.
The Pullman Fire Department was called to the site of the Grove Apartments at 1560 NE Brandi Way just after 3:00 a.m. Sunday, July 14, on a report of a structure fire. Four structures under construction with an estimated completed value of close to $13 million were destroyed.
The investigation at the scene led to a conclusion that the fire was intentionally set.