Suspicious fire in Springfield's Mason Square neighborhood causes some $95,000 in damage to vacant home

By George Graham, The Republican

January 21, 2010, 7:36AM

Photo by Dennis G. Leger / Springfield Fire Department

SPRINGFIELD – A suspicious fire late Wednesday night in the Mason Square neighborhool caused some $95,000 in damage to an unoccupied single-family home.

Dennis G. Leger, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said no injuries were reported in the blaze at 211 College St.

The blaze, reported shortly before 11:30 p.m., started in a couch on the porch, Leger said.

“The whole front and interior was going when we got there,” Leger said. “It was a very hot, intense fire.”

The two dwellings on either side of 211 College St., each received some $8,000 to $10,000 in damage, Leger said.

The Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad continues to probe the blaze.

Leger said the property is owned by Earl Wilson of 58 Maynard St.

Investigators continue to probe the case of a fire that caused about $100,000 in damage to a vacant home Wednesday afternoon a short distance away on Montrose Street.

That fire, reported about 2 p.m. at 56 Montrose St., started on a mattress on the second floor, Leger said