Arsonist at large: Six fires in two weeks
Published on September 26th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Arsonists set two Main Street buildings on fire early Wednesday morning.
Someone lit a pile of tires on fire behind Dale Halchak’s 104 Main St. building, and another burning tire was placed in front of the Ground Round, diagonally across the Street at 107 Main St.
Just last week someone lit a pile of newspapers on fire in a vacant Nixon Lane apartment.
Speaking about the location of the three fires, Stoneham Fire Chief Larry Lamey said, “It’s a triangle.” All three fires are minutes apart by foot.
Three Stoneham firefighters were hurt battling the 104 Main St. fire. Two men strained their backs and went to the hospital for observation. They’re home now. A burning ember landed on the neck of another firefighter. He was treated for a burn at the scene.
The first alarm from 104 Main St. sounded at 2:03 a.m. As Captain Doug Griffin’s crew drove by, the men spotted the fire at the Ground Round and split up. Ladder 1 went to 104 and Engines 1 and 4 went to the Ground Round.
“The Ground Round looked bad because the fire was in front, but a sprinkler system stopped it at the foyer,” Lamey said. “104 was worse. Fire was climbing the back of the building.”
After discovering the fire in the rear of 104 Main St., Griffin sounded a second alarm. Fire had spread from the tires to a ground level, attached shed and into the main walls of the building. Winchester and Reading Fire rushed to the scene. Melrose Fire covered the Stoneham Station. Before 3 a.m. a third alarm was sounded and Melrose came to the scene. Wakefield then covered the Stoneham station.
A hair salon and a nail and beauty shop in the lower units were ravaged by smoke, fire and the overhaul efforts of the Fire Department to knock down the blaze.
The upper units were spared due to the quick work of the Stoneham Department and mutual aid.
“By 3:35 a.m. we were just cleaning up,” Lamey said. “But investigators were there until 6:59 a.m.”
Stoneham Fire, Police and State Fire Marshal investigators are trying to determine what was used to set the tires on fire. The Chief called the fires “malicious,” and the possibility of a connection between Wednesday’s fires and the Nixon Lane fire has not been ruled out.
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