More On Fires & Foreclosures

Recent stories on fires & foreclosures:

• Lynn, Massachusetts: Acting Fire Chief James Carritte said an explosion in a natural gas line may have ignited the three-alarm fire in a home housing eight people. Several residents at home in the triple-decker at the time, including children, escaped unharmed. Ten others live in the neighboring home, which was exposed to heavy smoke and spraying water but did not catch fire. A fire investigator said he spoke to a man who identified himself as the building owner and said the property is in foreclosure proceedings. "He said he was giving it back to the bank Monday," the investigator said, adding the man said the building was not insured. See Gas explosion eyed as cause of Lynn fire.

• Youngstown, Ohio: A fire deliberately set at the former Nyabinghi bar did $5,000 damage to the property, reports show. Utilities were off prior to the fire called in. Records show the building involved in a bank foreclosure and delinquent taxes of $2,898. Firefighters said footprints could be seen in the snow going to and from a side door. Files show the bar’s last night was New Year’s Eve. See Bar fire deliberately set, fire department says.

• Cleveland Heights, Ohio: The foreclosure crisis is leaving thousands of abandoned and vacant homes in northeast Ohio neighborhoods, and if a fire breaks out in any of them, it can quickly turn into a death trap. Now the Cleveland Heights fire department has created a new policy concerning fires at vacant homes, and it is triggering a debate. Chief Kevin Mohr came up with a new procedure for fires at abandoned and vacant homes, which in some cases will stop fire crews from taking the offensive. See Vacant Home Fire Policy Raises Questions.

• Fitchburg, Massachusetts: Fire investigators say a fire at a vacant apartment building was arson. Firefighters arrived to find the wooden building engulfed in flames, said Deputy Fire Chief James J. Belliveau. There were no injuries. “The heavy fire showing in the front of the building was threatening an exposed building on the left-hand side. Parts of that building were only several feet from the other building. The other building was brick,” he said. The partially occupied brick structure, an apartment building, had to be cleared during the fire. The residents, to keep warm, huddled in idling ambulances for several hours before it was safe for them to go back to bed, the deputy chief said. The building was sold to an Illinois bank for $143,792 in February 2008, likely because of a foreclosure, according to Fitchburg tax records. See Fire in empty building ruled arson.

• Coram, New York: A small fire at a Long Island strip mall led to an explosive find: dozens of homemade bombs hidden throughout the building. Firefighters responded to the flames at the Coram strip mall Tuesday night as employees and residents still filled the area. Who would plant homemade bombs in a shopping center? Volunteer firefighters responding to a pizzeria blaze and discovered bottles of flammables in the kitchen and inside ceiling tiles and skylights. On the rooftop, vents had been pried open above each of the seven stores to find Molotov cocktails stuffed in. The devices had to be taken carefully apart. Matthew Bidwell, a former employee of the pizza place, blames it on the economy and wonders if the mall was in financial trouble. "The talk around was that they were going to put themselves into foreclosure," Bidwell said. See Mall Of Bombs: Molotovs Found In L.I. Buildings (Police, Firefighters Extinguish Potentially Catastrophic Situation In Coram; Some Sense Elaborate Inside Job).

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