Glendale Police investigating multiple fires at Sahuaro Ranch Park

GLENDALE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - Arsonists are striking a local landmark in Glendale, according to police.

Three structures were torched at the Sahuaro Ranch Park causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

Glendale Police is telling Fox 10 Phoenix that three separate fires happened during the early morning hours on three different mornings. This all happened between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Overall, two buildings are total losses, but one building can hopefully be restored.

"Very unfortunate, very unfortunate situation here," said Jon Froke, the Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Glendale.

What were once historic centerpieces on the property here at Sahuaro Ranch Park, are now just charred wood and twisted metal.

"The idea now is we'll clean the site, secure it, make sure it's safe for everybody. Then we're going to take samples from each of the buildings. Building material samples and then try and recreate the buildings and rebuild them in their original locations," Froke said.

Glendale Police say arsonists hit the property on September 18, 23 and 26.

They torched three buildings, including the dairy barn built in 1928. The blacksmith and machine shop built in 1890, which was also connected to the stable and granary.

The scale house, built in the 1950's, was also burned, sustaining minimal damage.

"We're looking at buildings that were constructed in the late 1800's, the low 1900's, original buildings. Obviously repaired over time, but when they're gone and basically burned to the ground, you can replicate that. But the originality is obviously gone, which is unfortunate," Froke said.

The fires happened on the northwest portion of the historic property, which was the working part of the ranch.

Froke is hoping whoever is responsible will be caught and punished for taking some of the valuable history still around in the city.