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Post-WVU football fires leave city officials ablaze

For decades, the burning question in Morgantown has been how to stop the spontaneous combustion of couches and dumpsters in the moments after University of West Virginia football games.

The Morgantown City Council has come up with a solution.

In the weeks ahead, Morgantown City Manager Jeff Mikorski said, the council is expected to give the city fire marshal and his deputies the authority to arrest anyone who violates the fire prevention code.

“We’ve had a history of malicious burning in the city,” Mr. Mikorski said. Though the problem has abated somewhat over the years, “if we want to have fire marshals out watching and monitoring malicious burning, we want to give them the ability to detain, question or arrest suspects.