Saturday, January 10, 2015

EIGHTH FIRE BURNS IN ENFIELD NEIGHBORHOOD. ARSON IS SUSPECTED. ARSONIST MUST BE A LOCAL PERSON.



EIGHTH FIRE BURNS IN ENFIELD, CT NEIGHBORHOOD.  ARSON IS SUSPECTED.  ARSONIST MUST BE A LOCAL PERSON.


Fire at 364 Elm St. burned less than 30 feet from an occupied house. No one was injured


ENFIELD, CT — Firefighters extinguished a barn fire on Elm Street Friday morning, the eighth fire in the same Hazardville neighborhood in recent months.

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It is too early to say if the fire was intentionally set, said Mark Zarcaro, spokesman for the town's fire departments.


Enfield police Chief Carl Sferrazza said Friday night that the fire was suspicious, but that officials hadn't determined yet if it was another arson.


Police suspect all of the other recent fires in the neighborhood — six structure fires and two car fires — were the result of arson. They also are calling a Nov. 5th attempt to light a house on fire suspicious.


All of the structure fires happened in unoccupied buildings.

Police don't have any suspects in the arsons, Lt. Willie Pedemonti said Friday. They are "diligently working with the fire marshal and the state fire marshal" in an attempt to solve them, he said. The town's detective division of 10 investigators is working on the case, and two of them are chasing leads full-time, he said.


Several tips about the fires have been phoned in, and detectives are monitoring the Internet for clues, Pedemonti said. But they haven't been able to discern a pattern of behavior that points to anyone in particular.


Police are asking for the public's help. A public meeting has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the police department to discuss the fires.


"What we are doing is asking the residents to be extra vigilant," Pedemonti said.

In August, a vacant house at 394 Elm St. burned. People were about to move into the home.


A few months passed with no fires. But on Nov. 4, a vacant house burned at 5 Martin Terrace, which is just off Elm Street.


On Nov. 5, someone tried to set a fire at another vacant home at 388 Elm St. The next day, a fire destroyed a tobacco barn in the neighborhood.


On Nov. 12, the arsonist was successful in lighting a fire at the vacant house at 388 Elm St.

On Dec. 31, firefighters extinguished yet another suspicious fire on the deck of a vacant home at 376 Elm St.


Pedemonti didn't have the dates of the car fires, but they happened on Avon Street.

He urges anyone who sees anything that looks out of place to call police without delay at 860-763-6400.