Fires Kill 2 and Leave a Massachusetts Town Anxious

BOSTON — A task force of local, state and federal officials on Monday began investigating a string of likely arsons that killed a father and son over the weekend in Northampton, Mass., and left the normally laidback college town on edge.

Jessica Hill/Associated Press
Stephen D. Coan, left, state fire marshal; Brian Duggan, Northampton, Mass., fire chief; and Gov. Deval Patrick on Sunday.

Emergency dispatchers received reports of at least nine fires in quick succession early Sunday, from 2 a.m. to 3:15 a.m. The fires damaged or destroyed five homes and several cars and garages, all within a half-mile radius a short walk from downtown Northampton.

Fire officials, who offered a $5,000 reward for information, said it was the state’s worst spate of what appeared to be arsons in recent memory.

The dead men were identified Monday as Paul Yeskie Sr., 81, and his son, Paul Jr., 39, who were found on the first floor of their wood-frame house on Fair Street. Two other families were left homeless by the fires, which the officials said could be related to a number of other unsolved blazes in the city in recent years.

In Northampton, a city of about 28,000 in western Massachusetts that is home to Smith College, the police promised to increase patrols in the neighborhood where the fires took place, Ward 3. On a Facebook page created to solicit contributions for the victims, anxious residents advised one another to keep their porch lights on, remove flammable materials from their garages and take heed if their dogs barked in the night.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood association scheduled an emergency meeting for Tuesday night. Gerald Budgar, its president, said he hoped to organize a citizen patrol, install motion-detecting lights throughout the neighborhood and perhaps add to the reward the state has offered.

“We’ve always considered this a safe and secure community, and that has been stolen from us,” said Mr. Budgar, a Northampton native. “People are angry; they’re traumatized.”

Mr. Budgar said the neighborhood had suffered suspicious fires for at least three years, though Sunday’s were by far the worst. The most recent, in early November, was set on a porch on Hancock Street, about a half-mile from where the Yeskies died.

In June 2006, a multifamily home on Hancock Street burned to the ground in another fire that has not been solved. Several cars have gone up in flames in the neighborhood, too, Mr. Budgar said.

“It’s been a long, ugly ordeal,” he said. “We need to reassure people and give them some guidance and help them come to grips with what’s been going on here.”

Renee Steece, an assistant district attorney in Hampshire County, said Monday that her office, which is leading the investigation, had no new information.

Mr. Budgar said that until a suspect was in custody, residents of Ward 3 would have a hard time sleeping.

“I stayed up late last night just looking out the window,” he said, “and my computer was still getting e-mail at 2 and 3 in the morning. Everybody is just on tenterhooks.”
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: December 28, 2009
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This happened in the hometown of Student Educational Exchange. How would you feel if this happened in your town or neighborhood?

Do you think this will be bad for Northampton's spirit, or bring the community together?

Why do you think this made national news?
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