By Larry King
The Philadelphia Inquirer
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — The smell of burning leaves has summoned no autumn nostalgia in Doylestown.
Fire trucks, yes.
Nostalgia, no.
A rash of small, overnight fires - leaf piles, trash containers, and the occasional periphery of a lawyer’s office - has put officials in the Bucks County borough on guard.
Ten such fires, all considered suspicious, have been reported since Oct. 23 in a several-block area of historic homes, offices and shops.
Doylestown usually has only one or two suspicious fires per year, Fire Marshal David Cell said.
While none has caused injury or extensive property damage, police and fire officials are stepping up nighttime patrols to try to avoid a tragedy.
“They’re all minor, nuisance fires,” Police Chief James Donnelly said. “But the problem with small fires is they can get out of control.”
That is of particular concern in the compact borough, much of which dates to the 19th century.
“Fortunately, with the modern building codes and upgrades to the businesses, we do have a lot of provisions in place to limit a major fire in the downtown district,” Cell said.
Donnelly said he has created an additional detective position to focus solely on the fires, is working with a county arson task force, and has moved patrol officers to overnight work in the vicinity of the fires to seek tips from anyone out after midnight.
“They don’t take any radio calls. They are just concentrating on the areas where these occurred,” he said.
The first five fires were reported Oct. 23. There was a leaf fire across from the county courthouse; minor damage to the outside of a law office on Court Street; a trash fire behind a state liquor store; a fence that burned behind a Main Street bar; and a debris fire that spread to the back porch of a renovated home on Union Street, displacing the occupants.
Three more fires were reported Nov. 2: a trash-can fire on Church Street; cardboard containing paver bricks set aflame on Belmont Avenue; and a fire that damaged siding, shutters, and plastic vent pipes at a law office on Pine Street.
The most recent fires came Wednesday morning. Two more leaf piles burned: in a churchyard on Court Street, charring a wooden fence; and nearby on Spruce Street.
Cell said that accelerants were not used in the fires.
Given the typical time frame of the suspected arsons - midnight through the wee hours - Donnelly theorized they might be the work of “someone coming out of the bars. We even looked at the dates to see whether the Phillies or Flyers were playing those nights, or what else might have been going on.”
Copyright 2009 Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC