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.
.
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.