The state is offering up to $5,000 for information that helps find the source of fires last week at a vacant school.
Officials are calling the fires “suspicious” but had few new details about the May 12 incident at the vacant Winter Hill Community Innovation School at 115 Sycamore St. The “number of unconnected fires,” previously reported as three, caused heavy smoke that took hours to clear from the multifloor concrete building.
“This fire had the potential to grow and spread, increasing the danger and risk to responding firefighters,” Somerville department chief Charles J. Breen Jr. said. His counterpart at the police department, Shumeane Benford, said additional fires could “leave someone injured or worse.”
“Other signs of vandalism” were found at the school, leading to further questions about who had access to the building, Breen said.
The 55-year-old innovation school closed in June 2023 after a piece of concrete was found fallen from a stairwell ceiling. Years of demands for upgrades preceded the discovery. The city is working with the state school building authority, which helps design and pay for construction of public schools, on plans to either rehab or rebuild the Benjamin G. Brown School and permanently closed Winter Hill school.
The city and state are asking anyone with information on the fires to call the Arson Watch Reward Program at (800) 682-9229. The program offers rewards up to $5,000 for information that helps solve, detect or stop arson and is coordinated by the state’s property insurance underwriting association. Tips can also be shared anonymously with local police at (617) 625-1600, Ext. 7226.
The fires remain under investigation by the city’s criminal investigation division, the fire department, and state troopers assigned to the state’s fire marshal’s office.
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