<p> Bethel Township Fire Department Clark County, Ohio</p><p>Station 51 Mailing Address Station 54 3333 Lake Rd. 3333 Lake Rd. 170 E. Main St. Medway, OH 45341 Medway, OH 45341 Donnelsville, OH 45319</p><p>Chairman Butler, Vice Chair Manning, Ranking Member Stinziano, and members of the House Judiciary Committee, thank you for allowing me to provide sponsor testimony on House Bill 185.</p><p>With the recent increase in the number of fires of abandoned homes, county prosecutors have had difficulty charging a suspect with arson, even when they have full evidence against them. Under the current arson statute, county prosecutors cannot charge a suspect with arson if the prosecutor cannot obtain written evidence from the property owner that they did not give consent to the suspect to start a fire in the structure. In the case of abandoned homes, this creates an impossible situation because the fire marshal cannot find the owners of these abandoned homes to get the important statement that they did not give “consent” to the suspect. Thus the reason for this bill, the fire service is not funded or staffed to “search” for a property owner to provide evidence for an arson. </p><p>Currently as the statute is written it is very low risk for a person to set fire to another’s property and put first responder’s lives in jeopardy or undue harm for little chance of charges or conviction. </p><p>It has taken a preponderance of time looking for the property owners, or corporate owned property’s, especially foreclosed property. This is costing tax payers a significant amount of money for fire departments, and county prosecutors searching for property owners, instead of utilizing this time/money towards other beneficial programs that help the communities. </p><p>Chairman, thank you again for giving me the opportunity to provide testimony on HB 185. I would be happy to answer any questions that members of the committee may have at this time.</p><p>Respectfully,</p><p>Jacob King, Fire Chief</p>