April 19--STAMFORD -- Police are continuing their investigation into an arson fire that displaced four families on Milton Street Wednesday night.
Lt. Diedrich Hohn said police are looking through surveillance videotapes from nearby businesses in hopes of finding the person who set the fire in a unit of a three-story, six-unit brick apartment house at 7 Milton St.
Hohn said that police confirmed an arsonist disabled at least one smoke detector in an unoccupied ground-floor apartment before setting the blaze, which was reported about 9 p.m.
The only way residents inside the building became aware of the fire was a neighbor who began banging on doors to warn them after spotting the blaze, Stamford Fire Marshal Charles Spaulding said.
Hohn said an accelerant-sniffing dog that was brought to the building by state fire marshals detected the flammable liquid that was used to start the fire. Samples of materials containing the liquid were collected and have been sent to a state laboratory for analysis, Hohn said.
The building's property manager, Stephen Grabowski, said the Stamford Health Department has not yet given permission for the four families to move back into the building, even though their apartments were not damaged in the fire.
Grabowski said some cleanup is still left to be done and that he expected the families would move back in early next week.
Copyright 2014 - The Stamford Advocate, Conn.
