07-06-2025
Udall neighbors rattled after park restrooms set on fire — twice
UDALL, Kan. (KSNW) — You could smell it before you saw it — the charred remains of the city park restrooms, torched and melted from the inside out.
Udall Police Chief Erik King is calling it arson and says it's unlike anything he's dealt with in town before. The damage is estimated at around $10,000.
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'This is where the trash can was right here in this corner,' King told KSN. 'Melted the alarms, melted the drains, melted the light switches.'
Police say it happened Thursday around 4:30 in the afternoon. Then, just hours later, it happened again.
'The same person returned and, at about 8:40 at night, lit the boy's bathroom on fire, and that caused significant damage,' King said. 'It was on fire for 20 minutes before the alarm company notified us.'
He says the timing couldn't be worse, with the Fourth of July just around the corner.
Neighbors say the smoke drew their attention before they knew what was happening.
'I was doing yardwork and I had the boys, and a lady from out of town came up to the fence and asked if I had seen a person walking around,' said Skylar Kistler, who lives next to the park.
That's when she noticed the smoke coming from the bathroom.
'It kind of made us, I guess, feel protective, like a little more protective, like kind of upset that anybody would do that,' she said.
Her husband Tylor says the damage is personal.
'I've lived here my whole life, so it's kind of nice to have a park like this with a splashpad, and you know everything here for the boys right in our backyard, and it's just kind of bad. This is a good building, and it's terrible,' he said.
Chief King says the person believed to be responsible has been arrested and is currently being held in juvenile detention. In the meantime, the city is bringing in port-a-potties, and repairs could take up to two months.
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