UPDATE: Two More Teens Arrested In Arson Of Vacant Clinton Mill

Updated: February 15, 2012

Two more teens have been arrested in connection with the Lydia Mill fire.

Amber Bailey, 17, and a 16-year-old juvenile were taken into custody according to the Laurens County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say they are still looking for two additional people.

Updated: February 14, 2012

A teenager has been arrested in connection to fire at a vacant mill in Clinton, according to officials.

Laurens County Sheriff's deputies say they arrested 18-year-old Claude Willard Davis, II Tuesday.

Davis is charged with arson of the Lydia Mill.

Investigators say a group of juveniles may have been at the mill Saturday.

The investigation continues and deputies are looking at whether this fire could be connected to a recent fire where several hay bales were lit in flames in a pasture nearby.   

Additional arrests are possible.

Posted: February 13, 2012

Laurens County Sheriff's investigators are looking into the possibility that a group of juveniles may have been involved with a fire at a vacant mill in Clinton Saturday night.  Clinton firefighters responded to Lydia Mill on Peachtree Street just after 7:00 Saturday night.  Residents say they watched the flames from their front porches, worried the fire would spread.  "I heard the fire whistles," says 78 year old Peggy Wyatt.  "My daughter came in and said, mama, the mill's on fire!" The fire destroyed what was left of the now vacant mill. It was in the process of being demolished.

Lieutenant Jawarski Shelton with the Laurens County Sheriff's office says several people in the area noticed a group of juveniles in the area earlier in the day.  "A place like that, where it's abandoned, things don't just spontaneously combust," Shelton says.  "We don't think it was an accident."

Shelton also says the Sheriff's Office is investigating whether the fire is connected to another recent fire, where several hay bales were lit in flames in a pasture nearby.

SKL Incorporated owns the property, and has been trying to demolish it for several years, and develop something new there.  A representative for the company told Seven on Your Side the rough economy had slowed plans down.

Shelton says incidents like this will undoubtedly slow down the process of cleaning the site up.  "When fires happen, the area is unstable for anyone to get in," he says.