Children play on the Kirby City Park playscape double slide during a recent weekend outing.

Jeff B. Flinn
Managing Editor

It took vandals less than a month to leave their mark in Kirby, and city officials are hot about it.

A newly installed slide-playscape was intentionally set ablaze in the early morning hours of May 11, forcing the city to remove the disfigured playground equipment while awaiting insurance funding and installation of a replacement slide.

Kirby Mayor Johnny Duffek is incensed over the vandalism, which could be declared an act of arson and be labeled a felony, with jail time and a hefty fine due to the perpetrators.

“The first day after it was installed, there were 50-75 kids out there playing on it, it was incredible to see. All of a sudden, all these kids just appeared,” Duffek said. “We’re seeing more and more people going down (to the city park) for picnics and birthday celebrations and cook-outs, all just having a good time.”

But someone had other intentions early the morning of May 11, when a police officer on patrol placed a fire call to Kirby City Park — home of the month-old new playground – for a fire in progress.

Firefighters got the call at 2:35 a.m. and quickly extinguished the flaming piece of playground equipment.

“An officer had done a security check at 2:09 a.m., and was doing the recheck at 2:35 when he spotted the slide on fire,” Duffek said. “We know within minutes of when the fire was started.”

The damage estimate is $5,000 for the slide, with $1,000 for labor to install.

The city has filed an insurance claim in with the Texas Municipal League, but has no timeline for its replacement.

The fire department shipped off samples of the melted slide to see if there was an accelerant used, but Duffek said it’s pretty evident what happened. “The ground cover is supposed to be flame-retardant, so I am sure they had to use something to start it.”

A $500 reward currently exists for leads to an arrest in the case, but Duffek said he’s ready to increase that to $1,000.

Anyone with information in the incident is encouraged to call the Kirby Police Department at 661-8515 or Kirby City Hall at 661-3198.

The slide has been removed, for safety reasons, after vandals torched part of it