BERLIN, N.H. (AP) – A suspicious fire hit two apartment buildings early Tuesday, continuing an unsettling string of major fires in the city.
Everyone living in seven apartments got out safely, but one firefighter suffered a possible back injury, said fire Lt. Roland Cloutier.
One occupant said he smelled kerosene and believes the fire was set. Investigators were’t ready to go that far early Tuesday, but Cloutier said the fire is suspicious.
It was the seventh major fire in the city this year. A week ago, two vacant buildings were torched.
Cloutier said the two buildings that burned Tuesday are about three feet apart. Flames already were burning through the roof of the first building when firefighters arrived around 3:30 a.m., and the blaze quickly jumped to the second.
“There was no stopping it from spreading to the second building,” Cloutier said.
He was not sure Tuesday how many residents were left homeless.
Investigators believe the fire started behind the first building.
Neighbors who gathered at Tuesday’s fire are getting jittery with so many buildings catching fire, some deliberately.
“I could hear people screaming and knocking on doors,” said a neighbor who did not want her name used. “It’s scary and we’re getting fed up.”
AP-ES-06-12-07 0741EDT
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