Slaughterhouse fire may have been arson - video

A horse slaughterhouse in Roswell planning on opening Monday is now facing a new hurdle: A suspicious fire that started over the weekend. Investigators say from the looks of it, the fire may have been intentional. The owner has no doubt. Busted wires, piles of ash and a stench of gasoline are all still evident after a Saturday fire at Valley Meat Company. “Very clearly someone knew what they were up to and tried to set a fire to disable those and potentially destroy the plant,” said Valley Meat attorney Blair Dunn. Valley Meat owner Rick De Los Santos says he's used to people threatening him, but not to this extent. "People that will go light a fire at your facility or people that will go threaten your life or go threaten your kids life," is wrong, said Valley Meat owner Rick De Los Santos. Dunn says the fire targeted the plant's electrical refrigeration system. “It did do some damage to the those refrigeration units which are a life blood and a critical component for the operation of the plant," he said. Dunn says one unit provides electricity to the entire plant and without it, the horse slaughterhouse can't function. He says when investigators got to the plant, there was a strong smell of gasoline and a particular fire pattern that made them believe the flames were set intentionally...more

Here's the KRQE video report:

Slaughterhouse fire may have been arson