Witness: Man near where a fire started left with a smirk on his face

Troy Pluid was walking in the woods Monday afternoon when he saw the fire. Immediately, he rushed back through heavy smoke.

“We don’t need fires threatening something like this at all,” Pluid said. “I mean, we can’t get out if we have to. It’s either us or the birds.”

The Florida Avian Conservancy breeds hundreds of rare and endangered birds from around the world.

Luckily, the fire department contained the fire before it reached the conservancy. But, a day later the smoke is still blowing strong. Other neighbors, like Ernie Foxworth, was close to the flames.

“I’m very upset,” Foxworth said. “That’s very scary thing especially this time of year. I mean dry stuff still from Irma.”

Foxworth is upset after learning the fire could be at the hands of another person. Lee County Deputies started an arson investigation.

“I did hear there was multiple spot fires back there, and that’s very unusual for such a thing to happen,” said Troy Pluid of the Flordia Avian Conservancy.

Nate, a witness who requested his last name be anonymous, said the man was walking down a dead end road, when about 30 minutes later the fire started. Nate drove around to the other side of the woods and saw the same man with a smirk on his face.

Nate took a photo when he noticed the suspicious behavior. It matches the description in the report.

Deputies said the man is described as wearing red shorts with black tights underneath and a black t-shirt.

“This strange guy we’ve never seen before was walking down the dirt road, and our dirt road is a dead end road,” Nate said.

Now, neighbors and businesses want him put behind bars.

“The sooner, the better,” Nate said. “That’s really scary because there’s a lot of woods over there.”