The Superior Express -

An apparent vandalism incident discovered Monday morning in Superior had the potential for serious consequences.

It appears a vandal or vandals opened the door to a parked pickup truck's gasoline tank, stuffed a rag into the filler pipe and started a fire.

The fire melted the plastic filler pipe, ran out of fuel and went out. The fire department did not have to respond to the fire and there was no explosion.

The truck's owner, David Allgood, started to go for coffee about 9 a.m. Monday. As he approached his vehicle, he saw the truck's partially charred fuel door was laying on the ground. He looked to where the door had been attached and saw areas where the vehicle's paint had been burned off revealing bare metal.

It is not known when the incident happened but it is thought to have been after midnight. The owners' son , Aaron Allgood, attends college out of town. He returned home after midnight and did not see any evidence of the tampering.

Damage to the truck that was parked on East Fifth Street is estimated at $1,500.

The incident is being treated as a criminal act of arson and is being investigated by the Superior Police Department and the Nuckolls County Sheriff's office.

Had the fuel tank exploded, the damage would have been much worse.

The two suspects associated with burglaries and vandalism at several Second Street locations on Aug. 19, remain in custody.

Wilbur Young, acting Superior Police Chief, has asked Superior residents to close and lock their garage doors and make sure lights are not left on at night. He said open doors and lights burning invite the criminal element to take a look and see if there is anything there they would liketo steal.

Officer Young has asked that community residents who may have seen suspicious activity or have surveillance cameras that might have information that help the investigation to please contact the police department.