Another suspicious fire has struck Hinton, where resources are already stretched thin after more than 20 arsons in the last 17 months.

A blaze began in a vacant downtown building early Wednesday. Fire Chief Ray Pivont says the fire could have quickly spread to neighboring buildings if a newspaper carrier hadn't spotted it.

State fire marshals haven't yet ruled it an arson, but Pivont suspects the fire was deliberately set.

City Manager Chris Meadows says the Summers County seat has hired two new police officers, reactivated its neighborhood watch program and that fire marshals have been in town for up to two months at a time investigating.

Meadows says the fire department has gone slightly over budget because of the arsons.