Homeless woman arrested for setting multiple fires in conservation area

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Katrina Sue Curington, 60, was arrested yesterday after setting a string of fires along NE 39th Avenue and reportedly telling firefighters, “I’m going to keep doing it.”

At about 5:52 p.m. on March 2, multiple witnesses reported seeing a woman lighting objects on fire and throwing the objects into the Flatwoods Conservation Area, across from Ironwood Golf Course on NE 39th Avenue. Two Alachua County Fire Rescue (ACFR) employees told the responding Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officer that they had extinguished the fires and had watched the woman ignite approximately three fires before she was stopped.

The officer made contact with Curington in the 1700 block of NE 39th Avenue and arrested her. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced a “torch” in her backpack.

A GPD officer reported that the two ACFR employees had seen Curington light a sock on fire and throw it into the woods before walking away. They reportedly said that once they had put out the first fire, she lit five more fires; they said she turned and looked at them and said, “I’m going to keep doing it.”

Curington was positively identified by witnesses at the scene.

Post Miranda, Curington denied lighting fires. She said she had been walking westbound from GRACE Marketplace and was reportedly uncooperative in providing information about the fires.

Curington, whose address is listed as GRACE Marketplace, has been charged with intentional burning of conservation lands and possession of an incendiary device for the purpose of setting a fire in a wooded area. She has 10 misdemeanor convictions (two violent). Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $20,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.