Palmer man arrested for arson

PALMER — A man tried to burn down his house Wednesday in a bid to “start over,” authorities said.

Alaska State Troopers responded to a call from the Palmer Fire Department about noon to a house on Kaye Marie Drive, after fire fighters had extinguished the fire, according to a sworn affidavit written by Trooper Zachary Huckstep.

Once there, neighbors told Huckstep a man later identified as Kelly Priestley, 44, who lived in the house, had used “an accelerant and gasoline, but did not use enough gasoline, apparently,” Huckstep wrote.

Priestly told troopers he had turned off the natural gas in the house in order to prevent an explosion and potential damage to surrounding houses, according to the affidavit. Inside, troopers found the house’s fire alarms on the floor, with their batteries removed, Huckstep wrote in his affidavit.

“Priestley said he had not been able to do anything correct lately and did not want his house anymore,” Huckstep wrote.

Authorities arrested Priestley, charged him with first-degree arson causing danger of serious injury, and transported him to Mat-Su Pretrial, where he remained Friday evening on a $7,500 cash and corporate bond with a court-approved third-party requirement, courts and corrections documents show.

The house was appraised at $121,900 in 2014, and had an outstanding tax balance of $4,847.43, according to borough property records.

Priestley’s listed address with the borough was in Anchorage.