MILTON-FREEWATER — The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Milton-Freewater woman on suspicion of first-degree arson, a Class A felony.

The sheriff’s office in a news release Thursday, Jan. 12, reported the arrest of 40-year-old Leeann Rose Pratt for setting fire to a barn the day before at 1571 N. Elizabeth St., just north of the city limits.

The property was originally part of the Locust Mobile Village trailer court at 1501 N. Elizabeth St., Chief Rick Saager of the Milton-Freewater Rural Fire Department said.

The fire call came at 8:53 p.m., when firefighters were performing drills, according to Saager.

“We responded with four or five trucks, and the fire was out in five minutes,” he said, noting the blaze was small and contained to the barn floor. “It was just smoke, really.”

The Milton-Freewater Police Department detained Pratt, and deputies with the sheriff’s office determined the fire was started with a 5-gallon propane tank and handheld torch.

A number of witnesses gave accounts of the fire, and Pratt is in the Umatilla County Jail, where she remained in custody as of Jan. 13.

While it is unclear whether an arrest earlier in the day at the same address is related, Umatilla County Sheriff’s Capt. Sterrin Ward said the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Robert Eugene Pratt Jr., 55, in connection to one count of being a fugitive from justice.

Marshals booked Robert Pratt into the county jail at 2:01 p.m. No further information, including bail amounts, was available Jan. 13

The victim of the alleged property crime is listed as Nancy Shaw, who is Robert Pratt’s mother and was the owner of the trailer court for decades until she was evicted, and the property sold in 2021 for back taxes, county officials said.