Officials Investigate

Intentionally Set House Fire

By Andrew Gorosko

Fire and police officials are investigating a fire that was intentionally set at a vacant house under renovation on Palestine Road, according to Fire Marshal Bill Halstead.

On 8:31 am on October 21, police and fire officials learned that a fire, which was then out, had damaged the unoccupied house, which has been under renovation at 5 Palestine Road, at the corner of Palestine Road and Galilee Way. Palestine Road links Boggs Hill Road to Hundred Acres Road.

Dodgingtown firefighters were dispatched to the scene and used heat detection equipment to determine that the fire was out, said Mr Halstead said. The house is owned by Jason Procaccini of Norwalk, who is renovating the structure for possible sale, Mr Halstead said.

Mr Halstead estimated the fire repair damage at between $12,000 and $15,000.

The fire damaged the basement of the two-story house, and caused some cosmetic damage to the first story, he said.

Someone apparently used flammable liquids to accelerate the fire in the empty house, which burned itself out for a lack of fuel, Mr Halstead said. The blaze was apparently short-lived, he said.

In the basement, the fire damaged the wall, ceiling, floor joists, a sliding door, wiring, plumbing, and a central vacuum system, he said. There was some smoke damage to the first story, he added.

Such a fire could have been much worse than it was, he noted.

The last workmen who were on the premises were there at about 10 pm October 19, Mr Halstead said, indicating that the fire was set by someone sometime between the workmen’s departure and the time that the fire was discovered on the morning of October 21. An electrician noticed the fire damage on arriving at the house that morning, the fire marshal said.

“We do believe there’s flammable liquids involved. It appears to be of a suspicious nature…This [fire] was not due to carelessness,” Mr Halstead said.

Investigators are sending evidence collected at the fire scene to the state fire marshal’s office for chemical analysis, he said.

Besides Mr Halstead, police Sergeant Henry Stormer, who is a deputy fire marshal, and police Detective Jason Frank are investigating the blaze. The investigators are questioning people who may know how the suspicious fire started, Mr Halstead said.

Sgt Stormer said there is no apparent motive for the fire, adding that there are no suspects in the case.

“We’re looking at every possibility,” he said, adding that investigators are considering a variety of reasons why someone set such a fire.