A suspect in the fire, Timothy Wood, 29, of Fort Dodge, made his initial appearance Friday morning in Webster County Magistrate Court.

He’s charged with second-degree arson, a Class C felony. third-degree burglary, a Class D felony. fourth-degree criminal mischief, an aggravated misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor.

Magistrate William Habhab set his bail at $10,000 for the arson charge. $5,000 for the burglary charge and $1,000 for the criminal mischief charge. Wood remains in the Webster County Jail.

A quick acting witness, Ryan Buman, of Des Moines, not only spotted the fire, he also helped apprehend the suspect.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Little John's Rootbeer stand owner Mel Theisen, right, of Kansas City, Missouri, along with his rootbeer maker, Robert Williams, left, look over what's left of the stand after it was destroyed early Friday morning in an arson fire. A suspect, Timothy Wood, 29, of Fort Dodge, faces several felony charges in the incident.

“I tried to stop him but he took off,” Buman said. “So I chased him. He went behind the jail where he dropped some items then continued to run. I chased him to the college campus where law enforcement was able to assist me in detaining him.”

Buman is a retired firefighter and emergency medical technician.

“It’s pure instinct for me,” he said. “I wanted to get him detained.”

Buman said that while the firefighters, law enforcement officers and others thanked him., he would do it again.

“Honestly, I’m kind of embarassed by the attention,” he said. “I was doing my job.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Ryan Buman, of Des Moines, works to get his cooking gear ready Friday morning at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village for Frontier Days. Buman's chased down and helped apprehend the suspect in an arson fire at the Little John's Rootbeer stand.

The stand is owned by Mel and Patricia Theisen, of Kansas City, Missouri. They served root beer and other beverages crafted by employee Robert Williams.

Friday morning found them waiting for their insurance adjuster to inspect the wreckage before they could begin salvaging anything that might be left to reuse.

Theisen and Williams said the fire was set after a burglary.

“Steal what you want to steal but don’t burn it down,” Williams said.

Theisen said there was nothing of value inside the tent.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen The intense heat nearly melted one of the rootbeer taps at the Little John's Rootbeer stand.

“There’s nothing to steal except bottles,” Theisen said.

The stolen items pale in comparison to the loss of the tent and equipment.

“He took a box of Walmart trash bags and the cover for a lantern,” Williams said. “He left a big roll of copper wire he’d stolen somewhere else.”

Thiesen plans to rebuild.

“We’ll try to replace what we can as quickly as we can,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen The fire destroyed the bottle inventory, reducing it to a pile of colorful rubble.

He’s sad that he won’t be part of Frontier Days.

“We came out to serve the public,” he said. “We just can’t take care of them this year.”

Former Fort Museum Executive Director Veronica Guyader is saddened by the fire.

“I believe that this was a horrific incident,” she said. “These folks have become something iconic. Everyone looks forward to the root beer. We’re saddened that this happened. Stealing is one thing, but when it leads to arson, we’re speechless to be honest.”

She’s extremely grateful that the fire was spotted right away. Several stockade timbers were burned in the fire and if it were not for the quick alarm and the efforts of the Fort Dodge Fire Department, the blaze could easily have spread to the stockade buildings, she said.

She feels badly for the visitors to the celebration.

“They (the suspect) took the experience away from the folks,” she said.

When they arrived, firefighters found a fire already well advanced.

“When we got there it was pretty well fully involved — pretty well destroyed, and it was starting to catch fire to the wall of the fort,” said Fort Dodge Fire Chief Kent Hulett. “We are very fortunate it didn’t spread to the fort itself.”

There were multiple 911 calls of a tent on fire at about 1:09 a.m., according to a report from the Fort Dodge Police Department. As emergency services responded to the fire, it was reported that a witness was actively pursuing a male suspect fleeing the scene.

“There was an eyewitness that had seen an individual running from the site,” Hulett said. “If it wasn’t for the citizen input we probably wouldn’t have caught this guy.”

Hulett said the tent and contents were a loss of about $30,000.

The owner estimated the loss to his business was about $10,000 for the weekend, Hulett said.

“It’s a significant loss,” he said. “Some of that stuff was not easily replaceable.”

“It was a retired firefighter that had seen this and took the action. I personally thanked him. Not too many would take the initiative to do that,” Hulett said. “It was due to his quick thinking and actions we were able to have a successful arrest and resolution of how the fire started.”

There are no other tents close to the root beer tent, but it was directly up against the fort itself, Hulett said.

“Our other concern is since the wall started burning we had to get to the other side to make sure it hadn’t communicated inside the actual fort,” he said. “We have a lot of wood structures out there.”

During the investigation, police discovered a burglary to an Iowa Central Community College dorm room.

Annette Mackay, a member of the Fort Museum board, said she’s hoping that a replacement vendor might make it.

“There’s a possibility we will have a root beer vendor,” she said. “We’re looking into it.”