A Vancouver man was sentenced to 16 months in prison Wednesday in connection with a 2020 house fire and assault in the Hough neighborhood.
Alan “Ty” McCall, 60, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree attempted arson and fourth-degree assault.
He has been in jail for over a year, and the judge expected McCall would likely serve about another month of his sentence before being released.
McCall was initially deemed incompetent after his September 2020 arrest. He underwent mental health treatment before his criminal case proceeded.
In court Wednesday, McCall’s wife, Kimberly, described him as a good man who needed mental health treatment. Both she and a neighbor — that police reports alleged McCall had assaulted — told the judge they did not want the prosection’s requested no-contact orders. The neighbor said McCall never assaulted him, and both of them said they did not fear McCall would hurt them.
Vancouver police were called at 4:20 p.m. Sept. 28, 2020, to assist with a fire at 1101 W. 19th St. McCall said in court Wednesday that was his house of 38 years.
Police could see thick, black smoke from several blocks away, and upon arrival saw flames shooting about 12 feet above the roof line, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Court records describe McCall running back toward the house, and at one point, charging at police with a 10-foot metal pole.
The Vancouver Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire in about an hour.
At one point, police requested firefighters back away, because McCall was believed to be armed and inside the burning house.
With the use of a police K-9, McCall was found hiding under some unburned building materials on the southwest corner of the lot. A lighter was taken from him, the affidavit says.
Kimberly McCall told police her husband had been having escalating mental health problems, including paranoia, intermittently since March 2020. She said family took him to a hospital on Sept. 5, 2020, and he was referred to mental health treatment after no underlying cause was determined, according to court records.
