ADAMS -- Fire officials believe a blaze that damaged three apartments at 3 Grove St. late Sunday night was deliberately set.
Christopher Ware, a state trooper assigned to the state fire marshal's office, said yesterday he is seeking the public's help in solving the arson, which began at the rear of a vacant first-floor apartment and spread upstairs and into the roof, driving two families from their homes.
"We do have leads, and we are following those leads," Ware said.
The building, next door to Rowley Fuel Co. and just south of the Old Stone Mill on Route 8, is owned by the Adams Housing Authority and is insured. Assistant Fire Chief Peter Main of the Alert Hose Company said the fire was called in about 10 p.m. and was under control by 11:30.
Alerted by smoke detectors
Jeffrey Vincent, who lives with his wife and two children in the second-floor apartment above where the fire started, was alerted to the blaze by smoke detectors, family members at the scene said yesterday.
Vincent went outside, saw the fire through the first-floor window, then alerted Lynn Morris and her four children, who live in an adjacent two-story apartment on the side of the house, the family members said.
No one was injured, but two cats died in the fire. A mother cat and five kittens survived, as did a hamster owned by the Morris family, according to relatives. Firefighters originally thought the mother cat had died, but she was found yesterday morning.
Main said the Vincents were staying temporarily at the Holiday Inn in North Adams, courtesy of the American Red Cross, while the Morris family was staying with relatives.
Patricia Whalen of the Housing Authority said the Morris family could be back in its apartment as early as today, and the authority is hoping to find a place for the Vincents as soon as possible. The first-floor apartment had been recently vacated, Whalen said.
Building still sound
The building is structurally sound and can be reoccupied after repair work and inspections are complete, fire officials said. Both the first- and second-floor apartments sustained heavy fire, smoke and water damage, mostly in the rear of the building, while the Morris apartment sustained minor smoke and water damage, Main said.
Assisting Main and Ware with the investigation yesterday were Trooper Michael Mazza of the fire marshal's office and Milo, a black Labrador retriever specially trained to detect accelerants. Neither Ware nor Mazza would comment on how they believed the fire started.
They urged anyone who may know something about who started the fire to call the Arson Watch Reward Program, which offers up to $5,000 for information. The confidential, toll-free number is (800) 682-9229.
Residents also may call Officer Lawrence Ordyna at the Adams Police Department, 743-1212, or the state police barracks in Cheshire, 743-4700.
Main said about 25 volunteers with the Alert Hose Company helped contain the blaze. Members of the Cheshire Volunteer Fire Department assisted and stood by at the Adams station. The Adams Ambulance Service and Adams Police also responded.