Mass. Officials Step Up Hunt for Feared Serial Arsonist

With fears rising with each new fire alarm, the state's fire czar said the probe into a string of more than a dozen suspicious South Shore blazes -- feared to be the work of a serial arsonist -- has hit a "full-court press," including with the investigation of a fire yesterday that gutted a 100-year-old barn and sent employees fleeing from a landscaping company.

"One of the things that troubles me as these fires continue to be investigated, there are people who become concerned about their own safety and where the incidents could be headed," state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said.

Coan said investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a four-alarm blaze yesterday morning in Fairhaven, and he urged anyone with any information about the fires to call the state's arson hotline at 800-682-9229.

The Fairhaven fire was the third scene in as many days that state officials visited after arson fires in Weymouth and Raynham, which officials said may be connected to more than a dozen others across southeastern Massachusetts set in abandoned or unoccupied buildings.

Officials said the Fairhaven blaze was different, hitting buildings frequented by people, but irate jakes are concerned the arsonist could "graduate" to bolder blazes.

"It certainly angers us beyond words when someone takes the sanctity of our families and the risk we're willing to take and put it out there needlessly," said Edward Kelly of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, which has offered a $5,000 reward for information.

Copyright 2012 - Boston Herald

McClatchy-Tribune News Service