Chris Bonanno, and J.D. Gallop

Florida Today

PALM BAY — A 47-year-old man questioned in connection with a series of brush fires that swept through southwest portions of the city known as the Compound within the last two months has confessed to his involvement.

“We saw a pattern of more fires than usual. I’m sure a lot of you remember the Mother’s Day fires in ’08, and none of us want to relive that,” Cmdr. John Resh of the Palm Bay Police Department said.

Resh said Stephen Paul Tatro had been spotted driving a 2007 Ford F-250 white diesel pickup in the area of several suspicious fires.

“That was our initial clue,” Resh said.

Detectives and fire investigators then began a detailed surveillance on Tatro that included video. They noted that the fires typically took place about 3 p.m. on different days of the week, with some of the blazes burning small patches of grass up to large wooded lots.

“It all started adding up to us,” Resh said during a Thursday afternoon briefing.

The arrest comes nearly two weeks after large brush fires burned through heavily wooded areas in southeast Palm Bay, damaging four homes, causing $300,000 in damages and charring up to 45 acres. Police and fire investigators say Tatro is connected with setting five brush fires in the Compound over the past two months. The southern portion of the city had been hit with as many as 90 suspicious fires since January.

The fires – for some residents – were a stark reminder of the fire danger facing the 100-square-mile city made up of mostly urban sprawl, scattered growth and heavy brush. The fire also conjured up memories of the devastating Mother’s Day fires of 2008 that destroyed 37 homes.

Once in police custody late Wednesday, Tatro began to talk, officials said.

Resh said the suspect told detectives that “other people have gotten away with it in the past so he decided he could get away with it also.”

He also had a disposable lighter on him, and in the truck they found a glove and a propane cylinder torch.

“He confessed to starting the two fires that we observed yesterday. He also confessed to starting at least three additional fires,” Resh said.

“Do I personally suspect him of more than that? Yes,” Resh added.

Tatro, described by police as a lawn care worker, was booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex late Wednesday and is charged with one count of fleeing and eluding a police officer along with five counts of malicious burning of land, reports show.

His wife posted a $15,000 bond at the Brevard County Jail Complex in Sharpes, according to Karyn Barber, spokesperson for the Palm Bay Police Department.

Investigators observed him going to places where fires had been set where he “surveyed the scene,” per Resh.

Police spotted Tatro about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in an area where two fires had flared up along Sugarloaf Avenue. Officers followed Tatro, who stopped his vehicle and laid down in the roadway to surrender, police reported.

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Resh said they requested that a GPS ankle monitor be placed on him “because of the danger to our citizens and the property here in Palm Bay.”

“He showed many clues from the onset which made us start looking at him,” Resh said.

Tatro had “nothing really significant” in his criminal background.

There has not been any determination on whether a recent fire near Cogan and San Fillippo was suspicious, according to Ron Bailey, Palm Bay Fire Department fire marshal.

“We’re working with forestry very diligently,” Bailey said. “We do not want to make an assumption on something until we know all the facts.”