Kitsap County Sheriff’s detectives, working in conjunction with the Kitsap County Fire Marshal have arrested a Bremerton man in connection with an on-going investigation into a residential structure fire.

Joseph James Britten, age 45, of Bremerton, was booked into Kitsap County jail, Tuesday, on a charge of first degree arson. Bail was set initially at $500,000.

Just after 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 28, emergency crews from Bremerton Fire Department and South Kitsap Fire & Rescue were dispatched to a reported residential structure fire  in the 3300 block of Rocky Point Road, Bremerton.

Upon arrival firefighters found the home’s carport in flames; the entire house soon  became fully engulfed by fire.  The property owners were out of area at the time of the  incident.  It took about three hours for emergency crews to bring the conflagration under  control and eventually extinguish the fire.  The house and a vehicle parked in the  carport were total losses.

As an investigation into the fire was initiated, it was soon apparent that the fire was  started by intentional methods.

Sheriff’s detectives and the county fire marshal soon developed information to contact Britten as a person of interest in this case.  This was followed by investigative leads that  provided details as to when, where and how he went about starting the fire.  Detectives developed probable cause for Britten’s arrest and he was taken into custody around 3 p.m. yesterday.

Britten made an initial appearance in Kitsap County District Court this afternoon on the  arson charge.  He was remanded back into custody with no change in bail.  His next  court appearance is set for Jan. 22.