Somebody keeps setting fire to trees in Fresno’s Armenian cemetery. Is it a hate crime?

A roughly 10-acre section of Fresno’s Armenian cemetery has been hit by a rash of suspected arson fires that burned trees, including the most recent one this week.

It is not alone. There have been 30 scorched trees this year going back to Jan. 13 in the grouping of six cemeteries in southwest Fresno that total about 160 acres, according to the Fresno Fire Department.

Twenty-one of those were at Ararat Armenian Cemetery on Belmont Avenue just east of Hughes Avenue, according to Sheri Manning-Cartwright, the executive director of the Ararat Armenian Cemetery Association.

“It’s hard not to feel targeted in some manner,” she said.

Fresno police and fire departments say they have not determined a motive for the fires, because they have not arrested the person or persons behind them.

Tall thin cypress trees have been a common target. They can go up quickly if someone were to place a flame inside the brush, Fire Chief Billy Alcorn said during a news conference. The arsonist has not used an accelerant, like gasoline or lighter fluid.

“They always burn very well even in the winter months,” Alcorn said. “On the inside, they’re very dry.”

There are other types of trees on the property, but the cypress trees burn faster and easier, he said.

Manning-Cartwright said the fires have been a challenge for the small cemetery. She said they’ve had eight fires, including the most recent one on Sunday, and one fire burned up eight trees.

“This is a busy area. There is a lot of traffic going through and, what people don’t realize, there’s a lot of foot traffic,” she said.

Just west of Highway 99, the cemetery is close to former motels on Parkway Drive and the original Triangle Burger location, among many more businesses on all sides.

Manning-Cartwright said crews have begun cutting down the trees that were targeted, and the cemetery association is considering options for better security.

“From a technology standpoint, we are an open field. Not a lot of electricity,” she said. “We don’t even have the infrastructure.”

The association’s board was expected to meet Thursday, Manning-Cartwright said, adding she has poured over security options that could quadruple the cost they spend on regular patrols: “We cannot absorb that.”

Donations have begun to come in, she said, from within and outside of Fresno’s Armenian community. The board will be also looking this week at potential fundraising campaigns or possible grant money to cover security, she said.

The cemetery has added to its regular security patrols during the off hours, she said.

There were two officers on site on Sunday who noticed a tree was on fire and called in more officers, according to Chief Paco Balderrama, who spoke during a news conference on Tuesday.

Fifteen officers with the help of a California Highway Patrol helicopter were not able to catch whoever set it, he said. Finding the person remained a priority.

“This is of high importance to the community,” Balderrama said on Tuesday.

The news of the fires came the same week as the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, recognized every year on April 22. Between 1915 and 1923, about 1.5 million Armenians were killed or forced out of their homeland by the Ottoman Empire, modern-day Turkey.

Manning-Cartwright said she could not be sure the fires were connected to the anniversary. “We’re not going to know what his motives are until he’s caught,” she said.

The cemetery’s association would like to balance the need for security with its need to be a place for mourners to visit freely, she said. During the shutdown that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, the grounds were shut off to any visitors.

“It was horrible for families and just made grief worse,” she said. “I don’t think we should have limited access.”

Valley CrimeStoppers has put up a $2,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction, according to Dale Mendoza, president of the nonprofit organization.

Callers can also remain anonymous calling CrimeStoppers at 559-498-7867 or by going to www.valleycrimestoppers.org.