HOLYOKE — Fire officials suspect that an early morning fire that broke out at 268 Pine St. on Tuesday may have been an arson, and are looking asking for witness interviews or other evidence to track down potential suspects.
On Wednesday morning, the state’s Department of Fire Services said in a statement that, “Investigators are hopeful that community members may have observed people, vehicles, or activity in the alley behind Pine Street or on nearby streets between 2:30 and 6 a.m.”
According to Captain David Rex of the Holyoke Fire Department, firefighters responded to 268 Pine Street at 5:59 a.m. after a fire had broken out on the back stairwell. The fire, which Rex said took the “better part of the morning to put out,” remains under investigation.
After responding to the call, firefighters found the stairwell to be unusable and had to enter the building from the front. By that time, the fire had spread to the attic of the multi family home built in 1885.
There was only one person in the building at the time of the fire, and they escaped uninjured. Six residents were displaced by the blaze.
More details were released on Wednesday by the Department of Fire Services, including that the fire did not spread to other buildings, and that one firefighter suffered non life-threatening injuries.
The fire caused a disturbance to the city’s water supply, and the city’s water works posted a bi-lingual notice on their Facebook page asking residents to run cold water to help in flushing out the city’s water system.
“The Holyoke Water Works will be flushing hydrants throughout the day and night to help alleviate discoloration because of this event,” the post said. “We are asking residents to please run their cold-water faucets as much as possible to help flush the system. Please bear with us as we expect this issue to continue throughout the day.”
Witnesses, who may remain anonymous, are asked to submit information to the Arson Watch Reward Program at 1-800-682-9229. The program is coordinated by the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association and offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information that solves, detects, or prevents arson crimes.