PAYETTE -- Late Wednesday afternoon, the Payette police chief confirmed three of the four students suspected of setting fire to a school administrator's home were in custody.
Chief Mark Clark said he anticipated the fourth teenage boy wanted in connection would be taken into custody as well.
The arrests come after investigators determined a fire that sparked at Payette High School Principal Mark Heleker's home Monday, Feb. 22, was intentionally set.
Read More: Payette house fire investigated as arson
Three of the suspects are high school students and one is a middle school student in the eighth grade.
Prior to warrants being issued for their arrest, detectives interviewed the teenage boys.
"I guess what I find astonishing is the fact that we have four teenage males that not one of them understood what could have happened by lighting a plastic garbage can on fire while it's up against somebody's house," said Clark.
Chief Clark says the suspects told police they saw that the home was fully engulfed as they were driving away, but didn't call 911.
"We could have easily had a homicide here and people could have died in this fire. It was that serious," added Clark.
KTVB asked Chief Clark about a possible motive.
"We know for a fact that a couple of the juveniles involved in this were charged and suspended last week from school," aid Clark. "We have heard and believe that some of this was in retaliation for that."
Mark Heleker's daughter notices flames coming from the garage when she took her dog out for a walk. She and her parents all got out of the home safely, but Heleker told us the home is a total loss. Three cars were also damaged.
"Everybody with whom I speak, they're asking how do you feel about this? Can you believe they did this to you?" said Heleker.
Posts on social media, including Snapchat, helped investigators piece together what happened and track down the students involved.
"It's a shock, no matter what the reason might be, that they would actually carry something this far," added Heleker.
Chief Clark says one of the suspects will be charged with first-degree arson. The other three will face felony charges for conspiracy to commit arson.
"Those charges are pretty serious because it automatically puts them into the adult court," said Clark.
The group of students is also under investigation in connection to a series of car burglaries across Payette the same night the fire started. Police are still talking with victims, but Clark says they know of at least 10 burglaries so far.