Nine Suspicious Fires in Four Months Plague Pa. City

Nine suspicious fires in the city of Jeannette over the past four months have police and fire officials looking for a pattern to determine whether a serial arsonist is at work.

"I wouldn't classify it as that yet," fire Chief Joe Matijevic said. "We have no clue if they are all connected."

The cause of some fires was ruled "undetermined," he said. Transients could have set fires to stay warm, and other blazes could be related to drug activity, which would make them accidental, he said.

All but one of the fires has been in an unoccupied structure, but Matijevic said some adjoin occupied buildings.

Trooper Steve Limani said a state police fire marshal investigated each blaze and turned over any evidence to Jeannette police.

"We do have some things we're looking into," said Jeannette police Chief Brad Shepler. "It's always a concern when a fire is next to an occupied building."

On Sunday, a blaze that gutted a vacant duplex on South 12th Street threatened an occupied residence next door, said Mayor Robert Carter, a volunteer firefighter in the city. Firefighters had to spray a foam coating on the adjacent building to keep it from igniting, he said.

Shepler said the fire gutted the interior and severely damaged the back of the house. New Jersey relatives of the woman who owned the home, who has died, spent Wednesday removing furniture and other contents.

"This is definitely a concern," Matijevic said. "Any time there's a fire, whether it's an arson or not, firemen could be in danger."

Carter said the evidence so far does not link the fires to a single arsonist.

"Things just don't line up in order. The timing was off on all of them. The locations of the fires are different," he said. "There's nothing to say there's a serial arsonist."

The string of fires began Oct. 8 in the abandoned Monsour Medical Center along Route 30.

The hospital closed in 2006, and the city and state are trying to determine who owns the building so it can be torn down or sold. Last year, the state Department of Environmental Protection cleaned up some hazardous materials and biohazardous waste left there.

Transients have used the abandoned building as a shelter, Matijevic said. Jeannette police have arrested several people who allegedly stole copper and other items from inside.

The fire chief said there is evidence that someone had been staying in the building, and the fire could have been accidental.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service