GALVESTON – Galveston officials are investigating the torching of 30 palm trees in the last two months.

"What we've got on our hands, a serial tree arsonist, I've never seen before," said Galveston Fire Marshal Gilbert Robinson. "I've talked to colleagues of mine, and that's the first they've heard of setting palm trees on fire."

Robinson said the fires began sporadically in May but have since become a nightly occurrence.

Tree service company owner Greg West is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to charges.

The city is getting ready to begin cutting an estimated 40,000 trees killed by Hurricane Ike, and West is concerned the arsonist is destroying the only tree species that resisted the deadly salt water.

"We just got hit by a hurricane, and the only thing that lived were the palm trees," West told The Galveston County Daily News. "I want to put the reward out, so it might change somebody's mind to turn them in."

The trees that weren't consumed by flames will live, but it could take years for the burned trunks to heal, West said.

Robinson said all the palm fires have been reported at night and the fires don't appear to have a geographical pattern.

A 40-year-old man carrying a gas can with only a residual amount of gasoline was arrested Tuesday after he ran from police, Robinson said.

"After we apprehended him, a report of a palm tree fire did occur," Robinson said. "We're thinking there are possibly several people doing this."

The man was charged with fleeing police, a misdemeanor, Robinson said.

The Associated Press,

Houston Chronicle

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