In Pa., arsonist hits neighborhood again

By Jeanne Starmack

Residents are trying to fight arson and blight in their neighborhood.

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — An arsonist has struck yet another vacant house in the Courtside neighborhood.

The fire at 741 Oak St. destroyed the house, said the fire department and neighbor Phillip Douglass, who said he could see the fire from his window.

He was just getting ready to go to bed, he said, when firetrucks began arriving after getting the call at 3:28 a.m. Tuesday.

“It took them all night to put the fire out,” he said.

The house, which is only a few doors away from Douglass’ residence, was burned by arson a previous time, the department said. Records on when that first fire occurred were not immediately available.

The neighborhood, on the city’s east side, has had between 35 and 40 arsons in the last 18 months, police and fire records indicate.

Two over the weekend, on Walnut and Cleveland streets, occurred in the overnight hours. The house on Cleveland Street, unlike all the others, had a resident. He was not home at the time of the fire, which heavily damaged his house, the fire department said.

Residents of Courtside have formed a citizens watch group to deal with the arsons and with blight that has crept into much of the neighborhood.

At a meeting Tuesday evening, residents crowded in to meet with city officials.

The city, whose spending is being overseen by the state after being declared in financial distress under Act 47, does not have the money to do as many demolitions as are needed on vacant, rundown houses, officials have said.

City police Chief Tom Sansone said that there are no suspects in any of the fires.

The citizens group has been meeting at the I-CARE house, a community center on Court Street. The next meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 3, Douglass said.