Fire and vandals yesterday destroyed a youth center's equipment shed and clubhouse in Butler County, the third suspicious fire in two days in Chicora, state police said.

The fire yesterday destroyed the shed of the Petroleum Valley Youth Coalition, which is home to the Karns City Youth Football League.

The fire was reported by the Rev. James Higgins, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which maintains the facility.

Rev. Higgins told state police investigators he was on his way out of town at 3:37 p.m. yesterday when he noticed smoke in the sky. He drove to that neighborhood and found the equipment shed engulfed in flames, said Cpl. Jeff Crede, a state police deputy fire marshal.

The shed had contained up to $20,000 in new and used football equipment that was destroyed. It also housed grounds equipment and machinery, including riding mowers, a garden tractor and a cart.

Cpl. Crede said the football league already had distributed much of the new football equipment and uniforms to players before the fire.

Across the property at the clubhouse, the pastor reported a small fire had been ignited on the exterior.

Firefighters quickly extinguished it, but the inside of the building sustained heavy damage from vandals, said Cpl. Crede.

"They tried to set fire to the exterior. It was completely ransacked. They destroyed it," the corporal said.

He said several game tables had been overturned and damaged, a refrigerator was toppled, windows were broken and drains and toilets in the restrooms were stuffed and flushed to cause flooding.

Investigators said Pastor Higgins appears to have arrived at the scene about an hour after the fires had been started.

No injuries have been reported.

The recreation center damage came a day after two suspicious fires were reported within about an hour of each other.

The first occurred sometime before 3 a.m. Monday when two junked cars were set ablaze behind the Chicora fire hall on Slippery Rock Street.

The volunteer fire company had intended to use the vehicle for training purposes, said Cpl. Crede.

An arsonist burned the vehicles and rendered them useless for training.

Within an hour of the car fires, emergency responders were dispatched to a structure fire at 3:24 a.m. on Kittanning Street.

Firefighters found a garage engulfed and a neighboring shed quickly catching fire.

Flames were approaching a house on the property when firefighters arrived.

A home across the narrow street from the blaze sustained damage to the vinyl siding and window frames, caused by the intense heat from the garage fire, Cpl. Crede said.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information about the fires is asked to contact state police in Butler at 724-284-8100.