Two teenage arson suspects arrested in Pittsfield Township barn fire

"The detectives have been working endlessly on this since the incident happened," Schick said. "We're still putting the pieces of the puzzle together."

One of the teenagers is a Pittsfield Township resident. The other lives in York Township, Schick said.

Witnesses reported seeing the teenagers near the barn Thursday and reported seeing a vehicle leave the property after the fire started, Schick said.

The suspects will be lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail pending a review of the case by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office, Schick said. Pittsfield Township will be seeking arson and possibly other charges against the two, he said.

The fire broke out about 2:30 p.m. Thursday in a vacant barn near Michigan Avenue and Warner Road that was not connected to any power, firefighters said. The barn was filled with hay and straw and that smoldered for hours.

Firefighters had to get a contractor with a backhoe to tear down part of the barn to allow firefighters to extinguish the smoldering contents.

"You could dump 10,000 gallons of water on that and it would still be going," Fire Commander Sean Gleason said Thursday night.

The fire was one of two that broke out within two hours Thursday in the township. A woman suffered severe burns in a house fire in the 300 block of Hunter Ridge Drive that started about 4 p.m. She was taken to the hospital, but a condition report was not available this morning.

The cause of that fire is under investigation but is believed to be accidental, Gleason said today. Damage was estimated at $175,000.

Gleason said the first fire destroyed the barn, and he estimated damage at $30,000. But it could be higher, he said, if two adjoining barns have to be torn down as a result of the fire.