CLARKSVILLE, Ind. — On Friday, the Clarksville Police Department in Indiana announced on its Facebook page that a suspect is in custody for the fire set at the George Rogers Clark home site the day prior. Louisville was founded by Clark in 1778. 

Jason Fosse is the suspect the Clarksville Police Department (CPD) identified Friday via a Facebook post as “a suspect in the fire set at the Clark Cabin at the George Rogers Clark historical site.” The post asked for tips about his whereabouts. About two hours after that Facebook post, CPD posted that Fosse was in custody.

On Thursday, the Clarksville Fire Department responded to a fire at the George Rogers Clark historical site, where George Rogers Clark’s home site is. 

“Upon my arrival the cabin was fully involved with fire coming through the roof and all windows and door areas. I actually seen it starting to penetrate through the logs, and then the porch had already started to collapse,” Chief of Clarksville Fire Department Brandon Skaggs told Spectrum News on Friday. 

Skaggs said he received a call shortly after 6 p.m. ET Thursday that the Clark Cabin was on fire.

“I live very close to the area. I actually looked outside my house, and I could see the smoke so I responded. I was the second unit on scene behind the first arriving fire company,” Skaggs said.

With views of the Ohio River and downtown Louisville, the cabin set on fire was a replica of Clark’s retirement home. 

According to Falls of the Ohio State Park’s website, Clark’s original home was destroyed in 1854. So in 2001, a cabin from 1830 was located to the site.

“The main factor was the age of that wood caused it to actually burn a lot quicker than a newer structure probably would have,” said Indiana Conservation Officer Jim Hash. 

On Friday, a number of agencies were on site to investigate the fire.

“We are assisting with the Indiana State Fire Marshal and my fire marshal’s office. We are conducting the fire-side of the investigation,” Skaggs said. He said those crews were recreating the scene, while evidence collection was done in collaboration with other agencies.

Nash is with the law enforcement division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which is overseeing the law enforcement part of the investigation.

“We’ve got multiple state and local agencies, which include the fire marshal, state police, local fire departments, as well as our department relating to this particular site as a state location, that are all working in conjunction with each other to find out the cause of the fire,” Hash told Spectrum News. 

The structure next to Clark’s cabin called the McGee Cabin was not damaged. According to Falls of the Ohio State Park’s website, the cabin is modeled after a typical early 19th century slave cabin and is meant to help tell the story of Clark’s two indentured servants.

Skaggs also told Spectrum News that at the same time crews were extinguishing the Clark cabin fire, he also had crews trying to put out three fires on a nearby walking trail, called the Ohio River Greenway. However, the Clark Cabin was the only structure fire. 

The original cabin was also an important part of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Clark was the youngest brother of William Clark. The historical home site is where William met Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. 

Several locals like Virgil Hertling came to see the damage Friday as the investigation was taking place. However, for Hertling what happened hits closer to home since he used to volunteer at the historical site, prior to its closing due to the pandemic.

 “It’s just a tragedy what’s happened here because this is such an important part of our history,” Hertling said.