Rowan Co. man charged with setting wife's house on fire

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies in Rowan County arrested a man they said told them he set his wife's house on fire Wednesday afternoon.

According to a police report, deputies responded to 190 Johnson Dairy Road for a possible arson call.

When they arrived, deputies saw 34-year-old Brian Brindle standing next to a pickup truck. Deputies said when they walked up to Brindle they could smell a strong odor of some kind of fuel.

According to the report, Brindle's face was emotionless and his eyes were fixed in a stare.

Deputies detained Brindle and when they told him he was not under arrest but merely detained for his own safety as the house burned he stated, "Well I should hope so, I just set a house on fire," according to the report.

When the fire investigator arrived, Brindle admitted to him that he dumped fuel from a gas jug in several locations in the house and lit it on fire, according to deputies.

Brindle told investigators that he and his wife had been separated for 14 months and that he had just found out about some things she had been keeping from him and snapped, according to the report.

Brindle was taken to the Rowan County Sheriff's Office and charged with arson. He was in jail under a $50,000 bond.

Nobody was hurt in the fire but it did cause roughly $40,000 in damage.

WSOC